Ontdek
by Asiatiese
Summary: Given the chance to fix her depressed self, Bella takes her time turning heads and one of those unlikely heads may take more than an interest in her as she realises she is much more than what Edward has made her to be and wants to find a life with fantasy experiences of her own.
1. Rollerblading

**This will be a Bella/Rosalie fanfic**** eventually s****o this is a Femslash fanfic, although I shouldn't need to say that as a warning, but as something to get excited about :) I will try my best. **

******I know it's cliché, but Bella's going to have to grow a bit because she's pretty useless. **

******The story is going to change a little, Main differences: set more recently, character variations and of course, pairings.**

******This is a rewrite because I was unhappy with my first try. I'm going to put more effort into this one and hopefully faster or more updates. **

* * *

**Phoenix, Arizona, 2012: **(Bella's in her 11 year after 1 year in Forks after she meets Edward)

"Come on Bella, we'll go rollerblading today like we used to. It'll be fun" Renee said pulling Bella from the kitchen table to the front door.

"You didn't just say that right? I'll probably kill the whole rink if I don't die first. Remember what happened last time." Bella recalled, amazed that her mother even suggested it.

"You were like 6 now come on, it's mother daughter bonding time. Renee said with a big smile on her face.

Bella had been sentenced to a summer in Arizona for her mother to spend time with her. Bella had agreed to it when she asked to stay with Charlie for the rest of the year. Bella had no idea she would fall in love with a vampire and have to be away from him for the extended period.

Edward had offered to come with her, but Renee only agreed to have him stay for two weeks because she wanted to spend most of her time with Bella even though she needed to meet the boy who captured her daughter's heart.

"This is some kind of sadistic torture isn't it? Not only are you subjecting me to serious injury and painful embarrassment, but the whole rink of people. Wow, Mom. Didn't think you would be the sadistic type." Bella half joked staring down at her mother tightening her Rollerblades.

"Oh okay that's enough. You are not going to hurt yourself or others. You are not that clumsy and you never were." Renee said, starting to get exasperated at her daughters antics. "You were six and learning how to skate. Kids fall and so you crashed into a few people. Only that one kid got injured and that was because he had come speeding down the wrong way. Now get your butt on that rink."

_And I probably won't get up _she thought bitterly, "Okay, okay, but don't say I didn't warn you" Bella said giving up the argument.

Very much to Bella's surprise, she was able to glide along the length of the rink after much persuasion from her mother had her releasing the railing. She was soon able to glide around the rink, arm in arm with Renee.

"Listen, I want to talk to you about Edward." Renee asked hesitantly.

"What about him? I thought you liked him. 'quite the gentleman' if I remember correctly" Bella replied still watching her blades uncertainly lead her in wavy directions.

"That's the thing though" Renee spoke hoping what she said wouldn't hurt her daughter too much "He's too much of a gentleman. I mean he looks like God carved him from stone, but he acts like a 100 old man sometimes and treats you like glass. Don't you want to have some freedom now and to go a bit wild? I know I did at your age and maybe I still do."

Bella just realised the position she had been put in. She couldn't leave the coming conversation if she wanted to "He acts mature and I am so clumsy, he just doesn't want me flopping all over the place in a heap of klutziness." Bella defended her boyfriend.

"See, that too!" Renee said. "What has Forks done to you that made you think you are some accident prone mess? And when did you start caring about how other people see you? You loved all your fandoms and fangirly stuff, you dressed with more thought to how your movie themed T shirts presented the art than what brand they were and you also seem to want to look like some unattainable-ripped-right-out-of-a-magazine-supermodel. Is this because of Edward? Because I don't like you changing your personality to fit his. You are only 17 and you are beautiful and amazing enough to have anyone you wanted." Renee said with a smile.

"Um.. thanks" Bella said abashed. "Yeah I guess I never really thought about it. Edward and his family are just so inhumanly beautiful that it's hard to feel ... pretty." Bella said abashed with realisation dawning on her face "Alice has been teaching me how to dress, but I stopped with the fangirl stuff because being the new girl was hard enough. I do miss it though, not that I don't keep up to date in secret." Bella said with a sheepish smile.

"I knew it!" Renee exclaimed "I knew the awesome geeky Bella I raised was still there. And to think I thought I had lost you to Edw" Renee stopped skating and her hand flung over her mouth in shock at her own words.

"What do you mean 'lost me to Edward'?" Bell asked curiously

Uh … well, I was hoping we could avoid this conversation, but I guess not." Renee sighed as she led Bella off the rink. They sat down at the food court across from each other.

"You think Edward has changed me or something." She stated understandably. "In a bad way?" Bella asked not understanding the thought. Edward had done nothing, but love and protect her.

"I was kind of telling you before but … okay, don't interrupt me, I'm going to tell you what I have observed okay?" Renee pleaded

"Okay" Bella said still confused

"When you left for Forks you were happy and content with your slight obsessions." Renee began teasingly, "You never cared about what anyone thought of you and you had a confidence in you that showed even unconsciously."

"When you moved in with your father, he called me asking me if he should send you back, saying you looked like you were getting depressed by the town. We were going to arrange living a situation with you here, but then you found Edward and I had told Charlie this is what you needed as long as you didn't get too attached. I felt held down in Forks and I didn't want that for you. We thought you would be happier after getting a boyfriend, but the story from Charlie is that you got worse. You became self-doubting, self-conscious, quiet and withdrawn. This is why I wanted you here, to give you a break from Edward and his family, tell you our side."

"I see." Is all Bella could make in reply to all this information.

"Just think about it over the next few weeks and then talk to me. I'll give you some time" Renee said. "While we're speaking, I know I'm not the best mother, not being around for you much at all, but please understand, I was a single mother and I had to help myself before I could help you help yourself."

"You mean the hobbies and … 'friends' and stuff?" Bella asked avoiding issue of Edward swirling around her mind.

"Yeah I was depressed and needed something to help me fight, make life brighter. You were the brightest thing out there and you stopped me from doing the unthinkable. None of the hobbies worked, but you made my world glow" Renee revealed.

"That means so much to me mom" Bella said hugging her mother. She had always thought they didn't have a strong relationship and felt she had been a dead weight holding Renee down, being a burden, but hearing her say this just made Bella's heart grow that much more.

For the rest of their time together Bella had thought about what her mother had said and started noticing things she had been blind to before.

She was not nearly as clumsy as most people, maybe the odd trip and fall, but nothing out of the ordinary. She realised that was because she was always surrounded by flawless Vampires. She also guessed this had taken a hit on her self-esteem. As for being withdrawn, she could only put that up to being afraid to be herself. She wanted to seem older than she was, she wanted to be mature enough for _him_, not the girl afraid to talk about her likes and dislikes (geeky stuff). Funnily enough it was because of her love of fantasy that she was so intrigued by Edward in the first place and when she mentioned radioactive spider or kryptonite, she really was hoping he would confess to being a supernatural or sharing her love of fiction, but instead he laughed in her face. Vampire was not what she was expecting, but not a disappointment either.

"Mom, I think I'm going to take a break from Edward for a bit. I'm not breaking up with him, but what you said may take some time to process" Bella said as she hugged her mother goodbye at the airport.

"I'm glad you are being so understanding about this. I was just concerned." Renee said with relief showing in her voice.

During her trip, Bella had been thinking about her life and just how much had been changed to accommodate for her vampires.

She had to be careful doing the most basic of things, walking, eating, and creating art, which had also been a secret talent of hers only known to her teacher and her. All these things had to be monitored constantly because heaven forbid she bled due to a bite of her tongue or a paper cut in her life.

Bella had also been contemplating her relationship with Edward to be true to her words said to her mother. She got a shock when from subjective point of view her relationship held large elements that made it quite unhealthy. She knew she had to do something about it without hurting him so she came up with the idea of making their relationship more 'normal'. This would involve a little more distancing because she was much too dependent on her vampire boyfriend to be healthy. What if he ever left? She couldn't even contemplate it, it was too painful.

This is going to take some time.


	2. Superman

**Forks, Washington, Feb, 2nd, 2012:** (Bella arrived home after her trip)

Leaving her father to watch a baseball game Bella headed up the stairs to her room knowing who she would find waiting for her "Hi Edward" not at all surprised by the beautiful creature sitting on her bed who was now getting up to embrace her.

"Hello, love. I've missed you" He said into her hair breathing in her sent, pulling back too soon for either of their liking. "I'm sorry it's been a while without your scent. I have to adjust again."

"It's okay Edward, it's kind of like how Superman was away from Krypton and had grown to live with Earth's enviro… never mind" Bella shied off at the end looking at his confused glance.

Edward frowned and Bella knew he wasn't happy with her comparing him to a superhero. What kind of boyfriend would want to be thought of as the villain or a monster by their girlfriend? _Yeah this isn't healthy_ She thought, glad that he couldn't hear her.

Just as Bella thought that, Edward said, "I know you mean well, but you shouldn't put me to standards that I can't reach." He said sullenly, moving towards the bed.

"You always say I don't see myself clearly, but I don't think I'm alone there," Bella said teasingly moving to join him on the bed. "And can you please not come in my room when I am not here. It makes me uncomfortable knowing you could be here anytime." Bella said trying to ease into the conversation they had to have while leaning into his body, but Edward moved away to look her in the eye.

"I thought you like me being here. You always ask me to come and stay with you so I just assumed…"

"No, no it's not that I don't trust you, it's just this is my home, my lair, my sanctum sanctorum." Bella said proudly.

"Umm… okay, yeah, no I get it, you want privacy. It's normal, but why are you only telling me now, love?" Edward replied confused.

"Just been thinking. Edward I want a more normal relationship and I know you're not normal but could we try it?" Bella asked

"Anything for you, but remember I am dangerous and so some things can't be normal. Okay?" Edward warned running his hand frustratedly though his hair.

Bella knew he meant the intimacy of their relationship and she had to say, his refusing her was really distancing her from him and not in the way she wanted right now. She was pretty sure they would have to get over this at some point, but nevertheless she said, "Thank you Edward. I'm only 17 and I think I would like to try this normal life" _Before I become a vampire, _she said mentally. "So could you please leave now?" She pushed Edward towards the window, "Normal boyfriends don't stay every night." It hurt, but she meant it when she told Renee she would have to think about things and take a break from Edward, "And you should start using the door." She finished half heartedly.

"Umm... sure, but are you sure you're okay?" Edward asked uncertainly shifting towards the window.

"Yeah, just tired." Bella lied yawning.

"Get some rest, love. Oh and we'll talk about why you're… your trip tomorrow at school. Goodnight" he called jumping off the side of the house.

* * *

**Bella and Rosalie will meet in the next few chapters. Calm your farm. They will happen.**


	3. PP&J

**Enjoy :)**

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**The next morning: **(Bella's house)

"Hello, love." Edward said as I opened the door. It was Friday and he came to pick me up for school as he did everyday, but I need to say something about that. We spend almost every minute together and I have become too dependent. "Hey Edward, do you mind if we take my truck today? I want to drive."

He frowned and said, "Bella are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just want to drive today. I haven't driven my truck in a while and I want to keep the battery running." I said opening the door and throwing my bag in the back.

"But I need my car to drop you back here and drive home" he said opening the Volvo door for me. _Wow, was he always this pushy? I guess I never protested him before. _I thought.

"That's fine, we can pick up your car after school or you can drive the Volvo and I'll drive the truck." I said, compromising.

"Why are you being so difficult." Edward muttered climbing into the driver's seat of my truck.

"Uh, Edward? I'm driving." I said incredulously, still holding the door open.

"Not in this death trap. You need to get to school alive." He said with a teasing smile.

"Fine." I huffed, walking around the truck. We were going to be late if I kept this up.

We spoke about my trip with me leaving out the conversation about him with Renee, I mean my Mom.

* * *

We got to school with a few minutes to spare because Edward pushed my truck to its' limit. Edward grabbed my bag and led me to my friends by Tylers newish SUV.

"Hey guys" I said to the group.

"Hey Bella, decide to drive the truck today I see?" Angela smiled at me.

I smiled and said, "Yeah, it's been a while."

Classes past relatively slowly until lunch where I joined the Cullens in the cafeteria.

I pulled my PPJ sandwich out of my bag and onto the table and looked to Alice. "Hey where's Edward at? He wasn't in Biology." I asked.

Alice looked down at her hands with a semi-serious expression and tone saying, "He had to hunt,"

"Oh" I said softly.

"You've been away for a while and he just has to …" She tried to think.

"Yeah I know, superman …" I muttered.

Only Alice was looking at me while Jasper kept his eyes on Alice, concentrating, Rosalie was glaring out the window and Emmett had on a frustrated expression trying to make spoon catapults but kept breaking the plastic.

Alice looked up to me with an uncommon frown and spoke. "About that, what's changed Bella? You used to be all about Edward, but now you want a 'normal' relationship. This might damage your relationship, you know Edward can't be human and you're his singer. I think you hurt him." Alice said in an accusing tone although her eyes told Bella she was sad.

Bella had thought her request wasn't too much to ask for. She just wanted some space to, as her mother said, 'help her help herself'. She felt pretty defensive at this point, "He sent you to figure out why I want to change our relationship didn't he? You're on a mission while he's hunting. Oh and he's hunting because he doesn't want to risk hurting me, his girlfriend." Bella dead panned.

Alice looked up at Bella, shocked. Even Rosalie turned her head with the usual glare, but just the fact that she tuned in, Bella realised she had never spoken like that to any of them. Catching Alice and showing her frustration with Edward. This was a first and it shocked them.

"So How was your Mom, anything new?" Emmett asked after an awkward and tense silence and 7 spoons later.

"Um, no, nothing new, just Renee being Renee." She spoke about her trip and her Mom and how they bonded, still avoiding the subject of Edward.

* * *

**This is my first fanfic and I didn't really plan all that much, but I think it's fine so far. Maybe a bit slow.**


	4. Pokemon

_Flashback: Feburary, 8th, Wednesday (Week after Bella returns)_

_Bella had been thinking about reading Game of Thrones, but still hadn't caught up with the show and, being the beginning of the year, she hadn't had much time to read, what with the piles of homework she was expected to finish._

_Her next class was gym. She walked into the change rooms and took her usual spot and changed into her uniform. She noticed she hadn't been as shy as she used to be. she hadn't tried to ineffectively cover up while changing and found that she didn't really care what anyone thought of her because she was doing absolutely nothing wrong. She wasn't flaunting her body, but she felt more confident after standing in front of the mirror again yesterday trying to find out why Edward chose her. For the first time since she had started doing that (as long as they were dating), she found that she did have a beauty she had been astonished, but still self-conscious to acknowledge. _

_Bella was still being shocked by revelations that kept coming to her that she had changed just as drastically as her parents thought over the year before; It made her a petty mess. Depressed, self-conscious, withdrawn and overly cautious._

_She walked out into the gymnasium and her class got into a game of basketball. Bella had decided to try and actually join in on the game and not just wait on the sidelines to accidentally cause damage. Just a feeling made her think it couldn't be too dangerous to play and that she wouldn't hurt her or anyone else in any way worse than she had in the past.. She started out slow, just running behind the group after the ball at all times and then defending, until it turned out that when Bella got moving, she got moving. Running the court, making passes, stealing and defending with only a few dodgy moments like getting shoved a bit too hard or the ball getting stolen from her. Nothing a normal player wouldn't suffer. _

_Her only fault was that she tired too easily due to the lack of exercise she had done since last year. Bella remembered playing soccer as a child (7 years old) she always thought she was too clumsy to play, but she had never actually tried._

_By the end of the lesson Bella was thinking about how oblivious she had been the last year. It was crazy. The coach called her when she exited the change rooms._

_"swan" he called, moustache moving appropriately, "what happened? You shredded that court" he said with a chuckle, "you know what? don't care as long as you agree to join the team this year" he said smiling a little._

_"uh...the basketball team?" she asked incredulously. To which she got a nod in return._

Bella had secretly accepted the offer to join the basketball team knowing that people would hear about it soon enough. She knew she needed to get healthier and more competent because being babied by vampires was not acceptable anymore.

She was starting to ease into her own life. Bella had gotten some questioning when she wore her Pokémon shirt to school, She brushed them off saying things like, "Yeah, but I only like the originals" or "who's your favourite Pokémon" and sadly a lot of them didn't know any or only knew Pikachu, but it got them distracted from her change in fashion. When she was questioned by Alice though, She got a little worried.

_Flachback:(Yesterday)_

_It was the first time that Bella had seen the Cullens today because she was running late for school because she had pleaded for Edward not to pick her up everyday and she had to ease into the new routine of driving herself there. They were at their usual table in their usual positions: Alice happily snuggling into Jasper who looked to be concentrating on his mate trying to block out everything else. It would be cute, but Bella knew he had to focus on Alice's emotions and not his blood lust to not massacre the school. __Emmett had a smile on his face speaking to the group with his lug of an arm draped around Rosalie who was taking turns glaring out the window and at the other students. Only Edward's position was different, instead of holding onto Bella as she entered the cafeteria he was getting up off of his seat to invite her to sit with him at their table the two of them shared._

_Bella walked up to him, but instead of sitting down, she asked, "Hey, do you think we could sit with the family, I don't spend enough time with my best friend and I kind of miss Emmett."_

_A sad look crossed Edward's face at her words and he said softly, "Rosalie won't like it and Jasper will be in a little pain."_

_Bella didn't know how to respond to that, she had always had insecurities about those problems she encountered with his siblings and he always tried to convince her she was overreacting, yet he just used that as a reason for them to sit alone. Luckily Alice heard and broke her moment of hurt and confusion, "Don't be silly Edward, Bella wants to sit with us." She said grabbing Bella's hand and leading her to their table to sit next to her. Bella smiled and waved at Emmett and smiled at Jasper. She bypassed Rosalie and turned to Alice._

_Alice looked at Bella happily, glancing at her attire briefly and then relaxing into Jasper again. Bella held her breath for the coming onslaught. As expected, Alice took a double-take and sat up and gasped. Not so subtly she said, "Umm, hey Bella, ahh... what are you wearing today?"_

___Immediately self-conscious, _Bella looked down at her clothes, but what she saw wiped out her insecurities. "What am I wearing? Alice, I thought you were the expert on clothes." She said with a teasing smile. When she got only a confused reaction, she decided to answer the question. "I'm wearing Adidas high tops, black skinny jeans and a Pokémon T shirt." she said with a proud smile.

_Turning away from Bella's clothes and seeing that smile, Alice returned the smile and asked, "You did this by yourself?" Bella nodded and she continued,"I can't believe I never thought of this! You look really cute as a geek, Bella. It's very you." _

_Bella's smile turned a little shy at this, "Thanks, I like being me."_

_Edward, who had been sitting on her left holding her hand asked the question that he had seemed to be waiting to ask, with a frown of confusion he asked, "You watch cartoons? What is Pokémon? It looks childish" _

_Bella looked at him incredulously, he's over 100 years old and he doesn't know Pokémon?, W.o.w. But before Bella could answer, a very unexpected vampire beat her to it. "Are you really that utterly oblivious Edward?" Rosalie sneered, turning her glare from the window and towards Edward, "__Pokémon_ is the second most successful _and lucrative video game-based media franchise in the world. It's been merchandised into trading cards, manga, anime, toys and books. The list could go on." She turned back to the window._

___Bella gaped at her and found Alice joining her, Edward had a dismissive expression and Jasper and Emmett had amused expressions. "Rosalie's a bit of a fanatic when it comes to pop-culture" Emmett whispered to the table, but before he could finish Rosalie left the cafeteria._

___'Can she be more beautiful?' Bella asked herself in awe at the vampire's beauty both supernatural and not and the new information about the elusive blonde._

___End of flashback._

Charlie had even noticed a difference in Bella's attitude, and that was saying something.

He looked up from his newspaper as Bella was leaving the house wearing her favourite "_Mutant and Proud"_ T shirt. "Hey Bells?"

"yeah dad?" Bella had realised that Charlie may not have been her perfect childhood father because he wasn't really there, but she wasn't a child any more and he treated her like a strong intelligent woman.

"It's good to have you back." He said gruffly, turning back to his paper.

Bella smiled at this. "It's good to be back" She said. She hadn't realised how depressed she had really gotten living here in Forks, but now that she was going through her metamorphosis, she had been planning her future away from Forks to go to college and that had made her happier than she thought it would.

* * *

"Since When did you like X- men?" Jacob asked from under the hood of my truck.

"Since I found the comic book in my mom's closet" I said.

"Your Mom reads X-men?" Jake said sceptically.

"Yeah, no. One of her friends left it there" I said quickly, not even able to remember his name. I blushed slightly.

Jacob caught on and let it go "So you called me because you realised that you boyfriend isn't perfect and can't change a car battery?" he questioned shutting the hood with a proud smile.

I had broken down on my way to La push because I hadn't seen Jacob in the first week I had been back. I decided not to tell Edward because I knew he would be upset about me not telling him. Edward hated the idea of me going to La push on the weekends and to be honest, it's getting really annoying. I don't have many friends and right now I am closer to Jacob than Alice. We have more in common.

"Can't I just want to see my best friend?" I asked innocently from the side of the hood, "I was coming to see you anyway bestie."

Jacob finished and said "Bestie? What's up with you? You're acting a little different." He slid into the driver's seat, "A good different. You seem happier."

That was close. I thought he was going to start pestering me Edward about my metamorphosis.

"I am happier." I said with a smile, "Now move that ass! My truck, I'm driving."

Jake slid to the other side, "meaner too …" he mumbled and I laughed.

"How is Edward going though?" Jake asked absently. "Haven't seen you together as much"

"We're trying something new, giving the other some space." I said, not mentioning how that has put our relationship on the rocks. He kept trying to stay the night and for at least a week, every night I have had to kick him out. I'm realising our relationship was not very healthy and that allowing him to stay with me while I slept was stupid because it's kind of creepy having him be there when I know he can't sleep.

Jake and I drove to La Push together to hangout at his place. I asked him how he came to meet me because he didn't drive anything. he said he ran, that was very hard to believe, but I let it go to spend quality time with my bestie.

"So you came here to … what? Beg me to give you a chance?" He joked and I pushed his shoulder with a smile. Woah! When did he get this solid? He was always tall but damn. "Well, I'm sorry Bell, but that ship has sailed. This hunk of muscle is taken."

"What? What's her name and social security number" I said mock seriously.

"You're not gonna kill her" Jake said catching on to the quote.

We laughed at our own immaturity. "So are you going to tell me who she is? Or he I guess, I won't judge" I said.

"She's a she and _you_ will just have to wait for the big reveal when you come to the Bonfire next week" Jake said happily.

"Fine," I sighed. "Now tell me how you got a hold of the hulk's blood" I said referring to his cray-cray muscles that seem to have grown overnight or in the few weeks I hadn't seen him.

Jake moved off the couch and sat next to me on the floor speaking softly, "Thought you'd never ask. You know what the Cullens are right?"

"Yes," I answered tentatively. Did he know? Why is he asking me this now?

Jake moved to tell me about his tribe and about the legends of shape shifters. He told me he was a wolf in his other form and that there are others in his tribe that, with him, form a pack, protecting humans from creatures like vampires. Sam is the leader even though it isn't his birth right. He allowed Jake to tell me because I already knew about vampires and I could help communicate between them. I was happy to oblige, but something told me that I was going to be needed quite a bit in the near future.

* * *

**Jacob's not going to be with Bella and he isn't going to be a pest. He is going to say something about it next chapter:)**

**Who's the girl? hmm? who do you want it to be?**

**WHO'S YOUR FAVOURITE POKEMON?!**


	5. X-Men

**La Push: same day**

Bella:

"Shit." I breathed

I believed Jake as soon as he asked me if I knew what the Cullens were. He knew that the Cullens were vampires and only some other supernatural would. Oh and me I guess ...

He took me outside into the woods to warn me about how when he starts to shake he might phase. Yeah, warning me to stay away for my own safety. Never heard that one before. Anyway, the next thing I know, his body starts to vibrate unnaturally, the edges of his form fold in on themselves and then there is a big ass russet wolf standing 4 meters away staring into my eyes with large brown eyes much too human for his body.

"Um hey, is it safe to come near you now?" I asked after I got over my slight shock.

Jake nodded his massive head and dropped to the ground in a very cute puppy like fashion with his tongue rolling out and his club of a tail hitting the ground. I could actually feel the thumps travel through the ground as I approached him cautiously. I knew he was putting on the puppy act so as not to scare me, but to be honest, I was much more curious than scared. It's not like I haven't been hanging out with supernatural creatures before and Jake has never hurt me yet, so why would he now?

I reached out and petted his head softly, observing his new form. He was as soft as he looked which was weird because wild animals usually don't have freshly washed coats.

"Can you speak?" I asked hoping I didn't sound stupid asking my friend a question like that, but he shook his head, softly so he didn't shove me.

If he can't speak then why isn't he shifting back? _maybe he can speak Morse code_ I thought. Just as I was about to ask, I looked to his tail whacking the ground happily. No, not happily. he's speaking to me.

**..- -. -.. . .-. ... - .- -. -.. ..-.. **kept repeating itself over and over again.

"yeah I understand Jake" I answered looking him in the eye. I learnt Morse code in my love-of-history phase (11 years old) and I thought Morse code may come in handy if I ever get kidnapped or become a spy.

**.- .- .. - / ... . .-. . **he pawed the ground as he stood and walked further into the woods.

When he returned, he had on a pair of shorts and a bright smile.

"I didn't really think that through. I got kind of excited to show you though. It happened four weeks ago when you were at your mom's." Jake said happily.

"Was it painful?" I asked worriedly. I knew we would talk specifics at some point. Maybe after I get over the shock.

"Yeah at first, but I think it's pretty cool." He said, making me dismiss my worry.

I smiled and said, "What has my life come to?" I huffed and we walked back towards the house. "Vampires and werewolves. My life is a teen angst and supernatural movie." Jake laughed.

"You know, we're not werewolves. We can phase whenever we want to, but when we get too emotional, sometimes we can't control it and it can get dangerous if you're too close as you just saw" Jake said seriously.

I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze, "You're not going to hurt anyone and you're not going to hurt me" In my mind I'm just hoping he doesn't turn out like Edward being self hating and a buzzkill on an awesome life. This had always bugged me before, but now it's just annoying. I've always wanted the lives of my fandomic fictional characters and I have always had a fascination with vampires. Even before I met Edward._  
_

To my relief and excitement Jacob just returned the squeeze to my hand and smiled brightly. "Thanks Bellsie. I was worried you might be scared of me. And hey, your shirt just made me think. We are like shape-shifters. Kind of like Mystique but with the power of Wolverine." He chuckled. _Why can't Edward feel this way about his situation? _I asked myself.

"And don't forget the fur of the Beast" I said teasingly, sitting on the couch in his living room.

Jake looked mock-offended, "Hey we're not blue and I look much hotter." he said pounding his now puffed out chest.

I smirked, "I'm sure your new girlfriend can testify to that."

"Nice try Bells, but you have to wait for the meeting." He said chuckling as he sat down on the floor a little way away from me.

"Fine." I huffed again.

Jake and I spent the rest of the day talking about his abilities. Once we started to compare it to different fictional characters, I had to sleep over and so the next day came without a beginning.

* * *

**Cullen residence, February 12th 2012 (Next day):**

Rosalie:

"Would you stop that?!" I yelled out and ran my hand through my blonde hair even though though both were unnecessary

"Rose stay out of this unless you have any information, which means, butt out." Edward spoke angrily knowing I would hear from my room above them.

I Lifted myself off of my bed, walked out my room and down the stairs to see a more than usually dishevelled Edward pacing the living room at vampire speed.

"Alice, why can't you see Bella?!" He called to the house. His hair was the picture of frustration and his face was contorted with the same emotion. Onyx eyes shifted everywhere in thought. "That's it! I'm going to look for her again. We can't keep doing this. This 'normal' relationship." Edward flashed to the mirror in the hall to fix his hair and came back to pace again. "She's going to get herself killed without me to catch her when she falls. I'm going to fix this. Now." He said, speeding for the door.

"Just leave Bella alone." I said calmly trying to stop this three hour session of 'freak-about-Bella-cuz-she's-being-weird' game.

"Rose, not now, I'm busy and don't have time for your experienced bitchiness right now" Edward said absently, flicking his hand in my direction still moving for the door.

Uh uh, time for the inner bitch to show herself Eddie boy. "Rose don't!" Alice called from her room. _T__oo late._ I stepped into his way and braced myself for the impact.

The sound rang out through the house and the rest of the family, bar Carlisle who was working, blurred into the room and I looked up to see anxious expressions take in the scene.

I looked down to see Edward reattaching his nose with a painful wince and his chest become convex again. I smirked proudly.

"Whoa! what'd you do now Edward?" Emmett asked laughing and offering a high five to Rose who took it. "Jazz, Rose did that without even lifting a finger" He said proudly. Emmett had always been happy that Rosalie was trained to be such a good fighter and able to defend herself, especially after what she had gone through in her human life so he supported her and encouraged her with it.

"What's going on here? Rosalie what did you do?!" Esme asked accusingly uncharacteristically raising her voice.

Why does she always blame me? Okay, I mean sure, he's hurt but she had to have heard him just before those injuries occurred. I'm pretty sure I went easy on him this time since he wouldn't listen if I asked for and apology.

"I didn't do anything but stand here. Edward came crashing into me because he's too busy plotting towards Bella, as usual" I said bringing attention to the real issue here.

"She's his soul mate Rose, he doesn't plot. He's just worried about her." Esme said obliviously.

"He spies on her! Don't you think that's a little creepy?" I asked

"He just wants her to be safe. From what I've heard, Bella's attitude has been off since her trip back. Edward is concerned for her." Esme said with a scolding tone.

_Can't he defend himself_? I thought scathingly knowing he could hear me.

"And is this also why he watches her sleep every night even when she all but kicks him out of her house? The reason she doesn't get a minute alone because he is always taking her with him, everywhere but hunting?" I asked disgusted.

"Yes Rose and when you find your mate you will understand. Bella's human so Edward's bound to be more protective over her."Esme said as if reciting a recurring lecture.

"I can't believe this, he's a stalker and a creep!" I all but screamed.

"Rose! That's enough! Take a run to cool off." Esme ordered, "That was uncalled for and you know it"

I fumed, "yes _mother_." I said sneered as I sped out the front door.

Through the whole of that conversation Edward had been staring daggers at me obviously trying to read my thoughts.

"why does she even care?" Is the last thing I heard as I sped into the forest to the Willow on the mountain that is the shadow hanging over Forks.

* * *

**Translation: **

**..- -. -.. . .-. ... - .- -. -.. "Understand?"**

**.- .- .. - / ... . .-. . "Wait here"**

**There might be a little Bella - Rosalie somethin somethin in the next chapter. **

**Why is Rosalie acting out? maybe it's normal**

**What's Edward plotting?**

**what fandoms will show up next?**


	6. Pawprint

We got a little sleep at around 3 Am. Jake passed out on the ground and I on the couch. We woke up at around 8 Am and our hands were nearly touching. I was lying across the length of the couch and my arm was dangling off the edge hanging over his. I was too tired to move anything so I just stared at our hands, microscopically close to touching with my eyes lidded from having just awoken.

It was probably ten minutes until I felt his eyes looking at our hands too. We made eye contact and held it there for a long moment, both of us too incoherent to start the conversation. I knew how Jake felt about me and I know he knows I don't feel the same way, but after the summer, he backed off and became my best friend I needed him to be.

Eventually I gave in and, moving my hand away said, "Jake ..."

He interrupted me, "Bella," Propping himself up on his left arm to face me directly, This might get dramatic_, _"I told you, this piece of muscle is taken" He said smiling happily. Why don't I feel that way when I think of Edward?

"So you weren't kidding when you said that huh?" I asked turning to look up at the ceiling.

"Look don't be offended, but it's a wolf thing. We don't choose our mates remember?" He said. We were just getting on that subject before we both collapsed into sleep last night.

"Oh yeah, about that, So when the wolf sees his, or her in Leah's case. When they imprint on their, uh ..." "imprint" Jake supplied, "Yeah, so it's just like BAM, togther forever, like it or not you love each other and you'll never be apart?" I said sceptically. Honestly it seemed pretty dodgy. The wolf and the imprint have no choice in who they choose to love, that's one thing, but to be connected by some supernatural force that takes away your free will?

Jake was sitting cross-legged on the floor facing me now, with his hands on his knees. He was wearing his clothes from yesterday, just his shorts and no shirt. Instead of wearing my same clothes, last night Jake had given me a T shirt and a pair of shorts to sleep in.

"I know it seems like we are being forced to love each other and our decisions mean nothing, but you have to understand, Bella, it's much better than it seems. Okay, I'll try to explain it to you. For example Jared and Kim. He was ecstatic when he imprinted. When we imprint, we want to be with our imprint. We can reject the pull and although we would complain about the pain, the truth is that there is no pain, it's just that, after we imprint, everything else in the world around us becomes dull and empty in comparison to when we are with our imprints." Jake smiled softly, obviously thinking of his imprint.

Jake got up and moved to the kitchen, I followed him and sat at the kitchen bench waiting for the breakfast he was making.

Moving around the kitchen for equipment, he continued, "The wolf in us becomes anything our imprint needs. Kim was going through a rough time around the time Jared imprinted, he became her shoulder to cry on, her brother, her best friend and then eventually, her boyfriend. The relationship between the wolf and their imprint doesn't have to be romantic, it doesn't even have to be that close. We just become what they need. Like Quill and little Clair. She's only 2, but, ..." I raised my eyebrows at this. "Yeah, but see, Quill doesn't feel that way about her, nor her, him, but he will be the big brother she needs and then the best friend. Maybe when she's older they will be together, but it doesn't have to be that way. Oh another example, Seth and Eric Yorkie, you might know him."

"What?!" I stood up whacking my hands down on the table staring Jake in the eye. "Seth imprinted on Eric?!"

"I'll take that as a yes. Yeah so they met at the cliffs during the summer to go cliff diving and have been best friends ever since. None of them are in to guys, but I don't think they will ever feel that way about each other. They will be brothers and that's just fine with Seth and Eric." Jake said. "The imprint is not directly affected by the imprint itself. It is completely their choice whether or not they want to love the wolf, it just seems that by making them as happy as they can, the imprint ends up loving the wolf in return. He knows what we are and just chooses not to get too involved."

Jake and I were silent for a long moment until I broke the silence, "Wow. Too bad I wasn't your imprint." I said teasingly, "I don't know, a giant wolf waiting on my hand and foot," I sighed in content, "Doesn't sound too bad at all."

Jake looked at me thoughtfully and said softly, "Bella, I have my imprint now and I don't feel the same way I used to feel about you, but I still want you to be happy." Jake said from the stove.

"And you don't think I'm happy with Edward?" I asked questioningly.

Jake turned from the open fridge to gauge my expression, I guess what he saw there gave him the green light because he turned back and answered, "Honestly? No, and you've been getting much happier the more time you guys spend away from each other."

I was surprised I wasn't surprised. I have noticed recently Edward had become more pushy, annoyingly clingy and moody. He always wants to get us alone together and I have been refusing him more and more. It wasn't like we had much to speak about anymore and we never shared any activities together.

I have been spending more time with his family instead of just outright refusing him and also because Emmett is like a brother to me and Alice is my friend. He always used to push me to see and bond with his family, but now whenever I suggest it, he always protests. The teachers and I are the only humans he ever talks to and even in his family, he ignores Emmett because of his 'immaturity' and has been increasingly glaring at Rosalie. Not exactly a family guy. His attitude got so weird; I'v caught him in my room several times when I have asked him to leave. Kind of disturbing and pretty unsettling.

I had always been too tired to do anything about it at the time, but whenever I confront him about it after, he put it up to a dream or talked me into thinking I didn't kick him out. I usually didn't want to argue so I just asked him not to do it again.

"You think so too." Jake stated as he slid a plate of eggs in front of me. I must have been thinking for a few minutes.

"Yeah, I think it's time our little romance comes to an end." I said sadly.

Jake looked up and smiled, "You have no idea how long I've waited for you to say that. I know we aren't going to be together, but he was a dick."

I frowned at that, "What did he say to you?" He couldn't be a dick just because he was a vampire. It had to be influenced by something Edward said or did. Jake told me about the rivalry between the pack and vampires and warned me to be careful. he offered me protection, but I told him they were my family. He admitted that Sam wasn't happy with my associations with the Cullens, but that he would only interfere if he could sense the danger, which the Cullens did not show, except now Edward, I guess.

"Well you know he hates me and that was because of our species and because I had feelings towards you. He used to call us to the border and demand I leave you alone. I hadn't even phased yet and he wanted to protect you from me, the non-vampire?" He scoffed, "Anyway so he has been threatening the tribe and pack for years. Well not directly, but he pretends to read our minds and uses our 'thoughts' to try and get Carlisle to make threats toward us. Luckily Carlisle has some common sense. Edward is his golden boy, but when it comes to the Res, he moves with a vengeance. We don't really know why. And when you guys started dating, he started getting dangerous, but then some of us started shifting so he had no choice but to back down."

I was shocked by his words. Edward was threatening my friend and his tribe with no clear intention before I even arrived in Forks and after. He claimed his aggressive nature to be defending me, but this is the first I've heard of this.

"I didn't know" I said softly, looking down, "I'll speak with him."

"I'm sorry Bells. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how. Before now we never really had any time to ourselves and you were a bit infatuated with him." Jake said sadly.

"I know. I'm sorry I was so weak" I said, putting down my fork.

"You were never weak. And your getting even stronger now. He said smiling. I still didn't believe he meant that first part. I was weak and I don't want to live that way anymore.

We stayed in silence eating our eggs until Charlie called and asked me what time I would be getting back. I told him I would leave soon and I did after I changed back into my clothes and hugged Jake goodbye.

* * *

"Okay, See you later Jake." Bella called from the doorway. "Bye Billy"

"Bye Bella. We'll see you at the meeting on Friday right?" Billy asked rolling out of the kitchen to see her off.

"Yeah, and I can finally meet Jake's new girl who apparently takes priority over me?" she teased. "You wouldn't happen to know her name would you?" She asked hoping he would divulge the name of the mystery girl that captured her best friend's heart.

Jake strolled in at that moment interrupting his father's reaction, "Nice try Bella. Super hearing remember?" He said gesturing to his ear. "It's only a few days. It needs to be a surprise, but trust me Bella, she's awesome and wants to meet you." he said with a smile.

"Ugh! just tell me. I won't tell anyone. I'm your best friend." Bella pleaded pouting a little. when she only got Jake's teasing smile and a shake of his head, She sighed and gave up. "Fine, I'll wait" she said walking to her truck and opening the door. "But I doubt she will be good enough for you" she said smiling.

He shook his head disbelievingly with a smile as I pulled out, "I'll see you here on Friday puppy." I called and got a distanced "Hey!" in return.

* * *

**I will be trying to update once or twice a week.**

**Do you guys want long chapters with less updates or shorter ones with more?**

******Please review so I can gauge your opinions.**


	7. Obi-ken-bo-bi

Driving home, Bella couldn't help but think about her conversation with Jacob: The imprinting and the talk about her boyfriend.

On the one hand, she didn't like the idea of having to love someone due to some supernatural force, but on the other, maybe that's love. Some supernatural force that drives people together and allows them to be happy and brighten their lives just that "little" bit more. Bella smiled at this. She wanted to feel what she could see Jacob felt when he thought of his imprint (whoever she may be).

She wanted someone who could love her and who she could love with her whole being; someone that fought for her happiness and whose happiness she would fight tooth and nail for. She wanted an imprint. But imprinting was a wolf thing. So she would have to settle for normal mortal love.

The only thing about mortal love though, was that people can fall out of love. Bella's parents were proof of that and now Edward was too.

She had thought she loved him, with her whole being, but she had changed. She had let herself be who she was meant to be not who anyone wanted her to be and she didn't love Edward anymore.

That was it, plain and simple. The false Bella loved Edward, but the real Bella didn't. She realised only 4 days after her decision to change back.

_Flashback: (Monday after she returned from Arizona)_

_Now I know_

_That I can't make you stay_

_But where's your heart?_

_But where's your heart?_

_But where's your…_

_And I know_

_There's nothing I can say_

_To change that part_

_To change that part_

_To change…_

_Bella's alarm played her all-time favourite song which she had just set to play for every Monday, to delay those Monday blues just a little bit longer._

_A smile crept onto her sleep-ridden face as the song rang out to her room. Bella nodded her head to the music and was about to open her eyes to the Monday light as it led up to her favourite part when it stopped. _

_'__The fuck?'_ _Her eyes snapped open. She saw the familiar pale hand on the stop button of her alarm clock._

_"What the hell, Edward?!" She frowned. Why did he have to do that? No, better question, why is he here? Bella had kicked him out again last night and she got her normal round of questions as to why he should leave and excuses as to why he should stay. Bella used the real reason as explanation and that was that she wanted a 'normal' relationship and this meant boundaries had to be erected._

_Edward had a frown on as well, but his was there in confusion, but Bella couldn't determine what was confusing._

_"What was that?" Edward questioned her. Her frown deepened, in confusion this time. '_He's not meant to be here, why is he questioning me? This is messed up._' She thought._

_She groaned and rubbed her eyes with her fists, "You mean the song?" to which she received a nod and yet his hair stayed exactly in place as if he petrified it in that position. '_Why am I even thinking about that?' She thought. Of course it looks petrified, he's a vampire. He's dead and yet, his hair always seemed too beautiful to be true and now she was thinking about how it looked corpse-like?_"It was My Chemical Romance. Great band and that was my favourite song." She said and her face softened._

_Edward retracted his hand from the clock as if he had just realised it was hot, "I thought you had good taste in music? You know Bach, Puccini, Rossini?" Edward eyed her confusedly still._

_'_What the hell?' _She thought this time._ 'I just told him it was my favourite song and he responds by saying I have bad taste in music? Rude much?' _Bella's knowledge of classical music had been just that, knowledge. She had told Edward she loved the music, but that was a lie. Sure she liked it, but it just wasn't her style. She had lied to have something in common with him and now he knew the truth, he was insulting her personal opinion._

_"Edward," she huffed not wanting to start an argument this early in the morning, though their small arguments had become more frequent over just the span of 4 days. "Why are you here? I asked you not to come when I don't know, to use the door and not my window" _she gestured towards the window that was carelessly left open,_ "and I specifically remember kicking you out last night."_

_Bella cringed slightly when Edward's eyes narrowed at her. That never happened. Ever. "What's wrong with you Bella? You've changed."_

_'_What's wrong with me? He couldn't have phrased that any better?' Bella asked mentally. "No Edward, I was always like this. I changed when I met you, and now I'm changing back." She said carefully.

Edward's eyes softened at that, "You don't have to change, Bella. You were perfect the way you were." He said smiling that crooked smile that used to give her shivers, but she was too focused on his hurtful words.

'Ouch. This _is_ messed up. This is the real me. I'm better this way. I thought it was obvious. I'm getting happier, stronger and I don't ever want to resort to that old life again.' _She thought. She pulled her phone from the table and started scrolling through the contacts._

_"Who are you calling?" Edward asked looking down at her phone._

_"I'm calling Alice. I'm going to let her dress me today so you might want to leave." She answered not taking her eyes off the phone. Edward wouldn't leave when she asked him to and that was proven again this morning so she would just have to call in reinforcements._

_Edward leaned in to kiss her chastely, "Okay love, but let Alice dress you the way she wants, she has missed you while you were away." Edward said, climbing out of the window with a soft smile._

_Bella knew Edward hadn't taken a liking to her new choice of clothing. She was not wearing fancy brands or complicated pieces, just themed or blank T shirts, tank tops, jeans, shorts and no jewellery except Jacob's wooden wolf on her bracelet. She had taken off Edward's heart charm telling him she only wanted to wear it on special occasions and didn't want to damage it, but in truth it was just too high-end for her taste._

_Alice had let her wear her watercolour Tardis shirt, but chose her jeans for her. _

_Alice was taking her fashion choice on board and Bella knew it was because it made her happy. She knew Alice would rather her wear designer blouses and skirts, dresses and heels, but Alice had admitted that she looked good with her T shirts and jeans or shorts and when she had seen Bella glow at that, she embraced it whole heartedly. They had even discussed the artistic aspect of her clothes, the designs of her prints and occasionally they spoke about the fandoms themselves. Bella had noticed Rosalie discretely tuning in when those rare conversations occurred. It made Bella smile every time._

_Today at school, though, Emmett got into a conversation with Bella about star wars and Edward spoke up disapprovingly._

_"This is childish. Bella, you are too refined to waste your time talking about Star Wars and this, this Obi- ken-Bo-bi rubbish." He said and Rosalie snorted._

_'_Wow_,' Bella thought, '_Mom was right, he does act like an old man.'

_That was the moment when Bella fell out of love with Edward. He didn't know her and he didn't like the real her. Bella had also found that she didn't like the real Edward. Being able to objectify their relationship opened her up to Edward's possessive and manipulative habits. He was able to 'dazzle' her and that made her weak and vulnerable to his unnerving possessiveness._

_The song from that morning came to mind and the part that she would have heard had Edward not been the jerk he was._

_So many_

_Bright lights they cast a shadow_

_But can I speak?_

_Well it's hard understanding_

_I'm incomplete_

_A life that's so demanding_

_I get so weak_

_A love that's so demanding_

_I can't speak_

End of flashback

Bella had a lot to think about and it had a lot to do with Edward. Jake's words were certainly not lost on the brunette and she would have to have a chat with her boyfriend about it.

Bella was worried now. Edward wasn't the kind hearted, loving, protective boyfriend she thought she had a year ago. From what Jacob has said, he was manipulative, threatening and controlling. From this point, Bella didn't find it all too hard to believe and Jake wouldn't lie to her. He has someone so he has no other motivation to tell me something like that unless it was the truth. That is what scared her the most. What if it was all true? What if Edward was truly dangerous and threatening? If she confronted him about it, would he turn on her? No, she refused to believe Edward could hurt her. She would have to talk to him to learn the truth and she wouldn't pass judgement until she did.

As Bella turned the corner to enter Forks, she gasped. She could have sworn she saw a flash of vampire skin in the corner of her eye. No, she was sure of it. Nothing sparkled like vampire skin. A vampire was following her. She had to get to the Cullens.

She stepped harder on the accelerator and took deep breaths to calm herself. Panicking would not help her die faster. Besides, it could be a Cullen, but why wouldn't they show themselves? More importantly, why would they follow her? The answer came to her and she was disappointed.

Edward was following her and he was hiding it. He didn't trust her. This was way too much this time. That talk would have to come sooner rather than later. Bella huffed and reeled to the side of the road. She took a deep breath, released her grip on the steering wheel and got out of her truck. She stood there for a minute just staring at the forest.

* * *

**Ooh. Is it Edward following her?**

**Bella's just doubting her boyfriend more and more. tsk, tsk, Bella dear. Ha ha break up over Star Wars.**

**Well he made her lose faith in him in just over a week. New record Eddy boy.**

**Oh and that amazing song? _Famous last words_ by _My chemical Romance. Check them out if you haven't already. It will probs come in later cuz it's AWESOME._**

**_Any songs, books, movies, shows or_****_ fandoms in high demand? Review and it might just appear my lovelies. _**


	8. Chapter 8

Previously on Ontdek:

Edward was following her and he was hiding it. He didn't trust her. This was way too much this time. That talk would have to come sooner rather than later. Bella huffed and reeled to the side of the road. She took a deep breath, released her grip on the steering wheel and got out of her truck. She stood there for a minute just staring at the forest waiting for him to show himself.

* * *

**On the side of the road just past the boarder of Forks**

It was a warm day. In an appreciative mind, the scenery was incredibly refreshing. A few golden rays of sunlight penetrated through the canopy and down to the forest floor. Bella watched as forest critters scampered across the leaf litter and up and along the elongated tree trunks and branches. She watched as the birds took flight. It was this action that confirmed her suspicion that a vampire was near and watching.

The air carried the fresh woodsy smell that only Forks held and leaning against her truck, Bella breathed it in deeply getting impatient with Edward's refusal to confess to following her. For a fleeting second Bella worried that the vampire may not be Edward or even a Cullen, but by the way he had been acting, Bella felt certain he would pull something like this.

_"Edward."_ She called to the forest. She felt pretty irritated by now and Edward should show himself if he wanted to stay in a relationship for any amount of time.

Bella waited. 5 minutes later there was a rustle of leaves some way away from her.

Rosalie stepped out from behind a hanging branch, lifting it above her head to reveal her goddess-like form to the girl standing fifty feet above the ground.

Bella gasped "_Rosalie?_" Bella stumped. Had it been her that was following her? She wouldn't do that. Her frown dissipated at the scene she was present to. The light was only just hitting Rosalie's arm and legs. They didn't sparkle as brightly as Edward's, but Bella couldn't believe how angelic the site seemed.

Rosalie swung from branch to branch, travelling to the lower branches of the hemlock. It baffled Bella that Rosalie looked to be trying to show off, at a human level. The vampire was moving at human speed, leaping average distances, dropping lower and lower. Who she would be trying to impress was a mystery to the human. '_She could just jump to the ground?'_ She thought

"_What are you doing here?_" Rosalie asked slowly approaching the girl cautiously and dusting her hands off. Bella realised the setting. They were in an isolated area, no witnesses and Rosalie, a blood drinking vampire, absolutely despised Bella. By approaching her slowly, Rosalie conveyed the message that she wasn't there to hurt her. '_That's very considerate.'_ Bella thought confusedly. They two meters apart when Bella answered.

"I-I was coming back from my friend's place at the reservation." Bella noticed Rosalie didn't show any distaste like Edward did at this, "I saw a vampire when I was driving, I-I thought it was Edward but it was brief. Was it you?"

Rosalie's Eyebrows creased a fraction, but returned. Bella knew she was wondering why she would put herself in danger if she thought she saw a vampire, but the fact that she didn't question her showed that either Rosalie trusted her logic of thinking she saw Edward, (_unlikely_) or just accepted her lack of self-preservation instinct. She closed her eyes and took a long breath and Bella realised she was scenting the air. Didn't her blood call to the vampire? Breathing it in wasn't going to help the temptation.

Rosalie spoke and her eyes didn't change colour like Edward's would have. Why was she comparing Rosalie to Edward? "Edward was here, moving that way." She pointed in the direction of Forks.

Bella frowned at this. She was right and she didn't want to be. "He was following me wasn't he?"

Rosalie scoffed and lifted an eyebrow. "When doesn't he follow you? I've told you, he's pretty much always in hearing distance of you and you've only realised it this past week." She pushed her hair back over her shoulders and ran her hand through the light gold main.

What? Edward was always there? Always listening and Bella had been oblivious to it for over a year.

Her expression must have shown shock because Rosalie added, "I' mean, at least you've noticed now, and it seems like you're putting things right. You're changing, and in a good way. He's not your everything anymore and you're okay with that."

Bella looked down shyly, embarrassed at her performance this last year. Rosalie was so much nicer to her now. She had received fewer glares from the vampire and now they had spoken more than one non-insulting sentence to each other.

"Were you hunting?" Bella asked. Rosalie nodded. "Do you want a ride back?" Bella was trying to talk to the blonde now that she was seeing another side of her, the side that doesn't want to scare the crap out of her.

Oddly enough, Rosalie nodded and started walking to the truck, "I usually like to take to the trees, but I have been curious as to what your truck is like inside. It's a classic I haven't seen in a while."

Bella watched the vampire speed around her truck, taking in the finer details. She didn't want Rosalie to wait for her so she scurried down and into her truck.

Rosalie was being nice to her. She hadn't ignored, insulted or glared at her at all and it was freaking her out. _She should have left me at the side of the road, or eaten me or something._ She thought seriously. This was the first time Bella had been alone with Rosalie and for once she wasn't being verbally attacked or glared down by the vampire. Rosalie was actually being cordial and it seems she would only be this way when her family wasn't around. Bella wondered why, but didn't know how to ask.

They were driving in silence while Bella caught side glances of Rosalie fidgeting with parts of her truck. Parts she didn't even know were there. She really was incredibly beautiful. Bella didn't feel jealous or spiteful because of it, no, but she was curious. Rosalie was the most incredible art, an expression to be admired and praised and the meaning behind it to be learned by those few she lets in.

Rosalie's eyes snapped to catch Bella staring "Keep your eyes on the road." She warned. Bella immediately looked away, ashamed. She was just like everyone else staring at the blonde's physical beauty and underlying puzzles. "You don't have vampire reflexes." She added.

They went silent again. "I... like your shirt" Rosalie said, eyes flickering to Bella's 'Mutant and proud' shirt still on from yesterday.

"Why are you here?" Bella blurted out.

Rosalie looked up at this confused, "You offered to drive me and I accepted. Did you want me to say no, because I can…"

"No, I mean, you wanted to run home, I could see it, but you chose to come with. Why?" Bella asked.

It was a moment until Rosalie spoke quietly, "I wanted to talk to you."

About what? Before now, Rosalie hasn't said more than one sentence in front of the girl and those that she did say were dripping with loathing and distaste if not hate.

"I wanted to talk to you about Edward." Bella pulled up again and waited for her to continue. "You are driving him nuts." Bella tilted her head in confusion. "Yeah, I know he'd already lost his mind, but your personality flip is driving him up the wall." She said with a hint of a smile.

_Ahh,_ "I'm not going back to that." Bella stated firmly.

"I know, and I don't want you too. You are much better this way, but I need to know, are you going to leave him?" Rosalie was confusing Bella as her eyes showed slight concern and her comment showed she accepted her new personality over her false one.

"I know why you hated me so much." Bella avoided the question without taking her eyes off the green forest surrounding them.

Rosalie stopped all movement and sat back. "What is it that your pitiful human mind has conjured up now?" she snapped.

Bella wasn't sure if she wanted to leave Edward. Leaving Edward may cost her, her coven and Rosalie sure isn't someone she wanted to talk to about it. "I was weak. I'm sorry. I wasn't me and I'm fixing what damage I did. It was mostly to me." Bella said quietly.

Bella had figured that Rosalie hated her oppressed personality and she had to admit, even she was disgusted with what she had let herself become. Rosalie was a strong, independent woman and she was that way for a reason. Bella didn't know what reason, but she knew that Rosalie had strong views about women having strength and Bella respected her for that and now she admired her for it too.

Rosalie didn't reply, but her silence was enough for Bella to confirm her findings. They had some level of understanding now.

"So you're breaking up with Edward?" Rosalie pushed.

Bella nodded slowly and said "He's not good for me." Rosalie turned her head to face Bella who continued, "For even a human boyfriend to manipulate and treat their girlfriend or anyone like Edward does, I would be a fool to stay with him. Being a vampire and wanting to keep me safe is one thing, but what he does is considered stalking and almost emotional abuse. I've had enough."

"You are not as stupid either." Rosalie said, but Bella noticed there was no contempt in her tone. "Edward did manipulate you though." Bella wasn't surprised, "He abused his natural vampire charm to lure you in and all those times you found yourself in a situation he put you in, you found yourself willing on his behalf. It was wrong. You were weak and I hated you for it."

'_That's it' _Bella thought. The cold hard truth. If Rosalie could (sort of) admit she didn't hate Bella anymore, her loving vampire family wouldn't hate her either.

That's what she needed and that's what pushed her to drive straight to the Cullens without the lingering fear of losing her vampires for what she was going to do next.


	9. Yellow spandex

**Yeah this chapter should have been with the last one, but it would have been huge. sorry. **

**Maybe later I'll merge them so don't freak out if the number of chapters go down.**

**Okay and I promise There will be more Rosalie and less Edward. Just give it a couple of chapters. I know it's slow. I'm sorry.**

* * *

"Where are you going" Rosalie asked.

Bell drove past her turn off and down to the secluded edge of forks.

"You don't need to drop me off, I can run there. I only wanted to talk to you." Rosalie said quizzically.

"I'm not dropping you off. I'm breaking up with Edward." Bella said determinedly.

"You can't." Rosalie said.

Bella slowed down and for the third time that day, had to pull off to the side of the road.

She turned to Rosalie who was looking in the rear view mirror. "What do you mean, why can't I break up with him?" Bella was afraid of the answer. She had only just gotten over her fear that the Cullens would reject her once she left Edward, and Rosalie of all people, had given her the push she needed to get the job done. If Rosalie was saying she couldn't though, maybe Bella had been wrong to assume that just because she accepts her new found independence that her supernatural family will too.

"He's not at home and the coven is hunting. You need our protection." Bella startled and Rosalie explained, "When I said you're driving him up the wall, I meant he's actually losing his sanity, but only slowly enough that none of the coven have noticed." Rosalie said annoyed.

Coven? "When you say losing his sanity?..."

"I mean, he's too attached to you. I don't know if it's love or possessiveness over your blood." Bella frowned. "Maybe he's always been like this, but when you started pulling away from him the day you came back, something cracked in him." Bella quirked her eyebrows at this, "It's like he truly can't function without you or knowing where you are, what you're doing and having full control. It's… unnatural."

Bella sighed and turned to face the windshield with an anxious expression. She knew Edward wasn't taking the distance forming between them well and he has expressed his feelings about the subject, but he had never gotten physical over it… yet.

Flashback:

_Tuesday 7th February, after school (Second week back):_

_Bella had come back late from her first basketball practice. There wasn't much game play, they pretty much just worked out and did laps. Sport members had practice instead of PE so by now only her PE class knew about her new hobby. She packed her homework into her backpack from her locker and texted Angela a warning:_

_B: Hey_

_A: Hey. Wassup?_

_B: When you start G.O.T (Game of Thrones), don't get too put off by the first episode._

_A: ?_

_B: It's a bit graphic. Get past it or read the book. It's like literary genius._

_A: KK thanx. Gonna start when I get home._

_B: so jelly of u right now L_

_Bella had suggested to Angela to read game of thrones. She had just finished catching up with season four and couldn't help but launch into a massive retelling of the series to her friend in psychology. The captivating storyline of the series caught Angela's eye and she agreed to start watching. She had no idea how this would take a toll on her end of year exams..._

_Bella closed her locker and got a face full of Edward leaning on the next locker looking at her as if they had been speaking the whole time_

_"Shit!" Edward frowned, "I thought I told you, you didn't have to wait for me." Bella said swinging her bag onto her shoulders._

_"You shouldn't swear it's unbecoming of you." Bella just turned to walk to the slowly emptying parking lot with Edward pushing off and following her. She only swore out loud when she felt the situation required it. "I wanted to wait for you love," Edward tried to take her bag off to carry._

_"It's fine, I got it." Bella readjusted the strap annoyed. She could carry her own stuff._

_"Oh. Sure… so where were you?" Edward grabbed her elbow and she turned to face him._

_"I, uhh was…" she sighed, "I was at Basketball training." She kept her face emotionless and knew that, had she said that last year, she would probably have laughed and that is exactly what Edward did right then._

_After he realised it wasn't a joke, his face showed true shock and then he smiled sympathetically, "oh, uh, and how did that go?" His voice revealed ill-concealed amusement at the thought._

_Bella frowned, but slightly understood. "Well, it was the first session and I haven't been very active in the last year, so it was pretty gruelling. Other than that, it was kind of fun. The team is really nice and Angela, Mike and Eric joined. They were on the team last year. Who knew?" I turns out Bella had been unnervingly oblivious to her human friends for the entire year she'd known them._

_Bella put her bag down and sat on the ground of the parking lot. Standing for so long after training was easier said than done._

_"What are you doing?" Edward looked down at her bewildered._

_"I'm tired, but keep talking. We humans must rest sometimes."_

_Bella could see Edward was uncomfortable with this and when he crouched down to sit on the balls of his feet, she felt like a child being demeaned by an adult._

_"Okay, well, I don't think basketball is the best idea, Bella." Edward said, looking down at her softly._

_"What do you mean? I haven't even played a game yet." Bella was confused. She was already getting excited about her first game in two months._

_"You might hurt yourself, love. You aren't the most coordinated person I've met and basketball can get pretty physical can't it?" Edward reasoned._

_Bella felt defensive, of the sport and her self-esteem. "Yeah, It can get pretty hands on, but that's just sport and to be fair, the people you hang around are all supernatural, superfast, super coordinated super-beings with super powers, whereas I'm human, like every other basketball player out there. If I want to be less clumsy and more coordinated, I have to train. I like basketball." She shrugged._

_"I'm not going to let you hurt yourself. If you want to play, then play, but I'm joining the team too." Edward said standing up._

_Bella followed and they walked to her truck. She had been insisting on driving her truck to school every day because she truly loved it and having Edward pick her up was just rubbing it in the faces of the girls of Forks High that she was with Edward Cullen. She wanted to be more self-sufficient._

_She let Edward drive this time, because she was way too tired to argue right now. She was actually in deep thought about Edward's last comment. She wanted to try something new and he discouraged and doubted her. She didn't want him to join the team. It was becoming her thing, the one thing that she had to do without him. An independent activity that she had to work for and that she controlled. No one could give it to her. No one could give her the skills and the ability to play ball. Bella could have something she called her own and to put in her small but slowly growing bag of tricks and life experiences._

_Bella had been looking forward to life experiences recently and becoming a vampire was slowly merging its way into her ideas and plans, but things weren't certain._

_They pulled into Bella's driveway past Edward's Volvo, "Bella, I want to come in today. I've missed you and we only had one class together today." He looked at her pleadingly, "I didn't even know you joined the basketball team until we spoke just then."_

_"No, I have a lot of homework to do tonight and you invited yourself over yesterday night even when I specifically asked you to leave and thought you did. I haven't forgiven you and you're not allowed in until I have." Bella felt she didn't need to be so harsh so added, "I'm sorry Edward, but there are boundaries and I'm not comfortable with you staying there while I sleep anymore. Please respect that."_

_Edward's face was void of expression. They moved out of the truck and walked to the door of her house. They stopped on the steps and Bella turned to Edward on the lower step._

_Edward seemed to explode at that moment. His hands balled into stone fists, "You can't do this Bella! Why do you want to hurt us? I love you. I need to be close to you. It hurts. You don't understand what you're doing to me! Being near you is one kind of pain, but it is one that I can supress. Being away from you is another. Stop pushing me away. You're denying us. You're denying us our happiness. I'm addicted to you!" He threw his hands forward and just missed her face. His eyes were crazed and his face was desperate._

_Bella felt a wave of emotions hit her then, guilt, hurt, sorrow and rising fear. "I'm sorry Edward. I don't want to hurt us. I need some space. I need to be myself and figure out some things. Please, just give me time." She walked in and closed the door. She couldn't handle seeing his face at that moment._

_He stayed out there waiting in his car until Charlie returned that night. Obviously thinking this was giving her space._

_Edward's little outburst hit her like a ton of bricks. Orders. He was ordering her to stop being herself, telling her what she was doing, finding happiness, was putting him in pain by being without her and being with her. It hurt to hear that. He was blaming her for his pain and then he called her his drug. Their relationship had her being addictive. Her scent was intoxicating to him, her blood called for him to drain her veins and arteries dry and Bella realised, that was what had initiated their relationship. A loving relationship like theirs should not have one partner be a danger to the other or the other have to give up living to be with them. That's what she had been doing for the past year._

_What Bella had with Edward wasn't normal and it wasn't an equal relationship in the least. On top of all that, Edward was starting to crack._

End Flashback.

"He will hurt. I will hurt. It's what happens when a relationship ends. He is just unhappy now, right?" Bella turned to Rosalie who was staring at her with only mild interest.

"The golden boy is definitely unhappy." Rosalie snorted "He doesn't get refused often. I don't think he will react well to having something of his taken away, especially you." Rosalie just pointed out again how spoilt Edward had been and how Bella was some kind of possession of his and Bella didn't like that at all.

"I am not 'something of his' and I am going to leave him. He makes me a pitiful doormat and I'm not going to carry on, vampire or not." Bella started the truck.

"Vampires have this possessive instinct, Bella. If you're going to do it, you should do it around the family, in case you need our protection. Just wait for when we're all 's unpredictable right now." Rosalie said turning to the window.

The way Rosalie said Bella's name made the girl feel a small pressure in her lungs and she realised she wasn't breathing. Odd.

"He's not there so you can go back. His trail was directed to your house. He's waiting for you. I can run home." Rosalie said unbuckling her seatbelt that was only there for visuals. "Be careful. We've never spoken." She glanced at Bella's shirt and smiled a brilliant smile and said "Much better than yellow spandex." The door closed and she was speeding off into and up a tree.

"Okay" Bella was stunned. She had just had a full on conversation with the Ice Queen. What the fuck? Rosalie actually wanted to protect her, and from Edward no less. She took a breath, turned around and headed home. She could still talk to him about what Jake told her, just not officially break up with him.

* * *

******hehehe, "yellow spandex"... I'm so lame:(**

**Okay, that was fun. Maybe Bella's feeling somethin'. Who 's never really spoken to Rose before, maybe it's the effect she has on everyone.**

**'Just break up with him already. I mean seriously, grow a pair.' I know, but remember, she was head over heels for that creep, so soon. They will be apart soon.**

**The relationship must develop. Rose only just stopped hating Bella, poor girl.**

**Review and I'll try my best.**


	10. Charlie

Bella turned into her street and noticed the lack of Volvos.

When she entered the house, she immediately called, "Charlie?"

"Yeah Bella, I'm in the kitchen." He called back. She walked in, preparing herself for the mass destruction. Instead she found her father with a pan in his hand standing over the stove. Not a whiff of smoke in sight. "I'm making stir-fry tonight." He turned to her, "It occurred to me that you haven't tried my special stir-fry." He smiled happily, making her forget all thoughts of Edward.

Bella knew Charlie was trying to be around more often. He had been treating her like a mature adult since she agreed to live with him, but recently he had seemed to realise, she wasn't going to be hanging around all the time soon. Bella was graduating at the end of the year and he wanted to spend time with his daughter.

Work was always his biggest priority before she arrived and it was hard for him to change. He doesn't do well with change, but he was putting in the effort for his daughter and Bella was grateful for that.

"Dad? You have a good day or something?" She asked sceptically. It was 8:00 PM and the vegetables looked almost done so she sat down at the table.

"Yeah, it was pretty good." He said plating up.

"That smile says it was more than pretty good." Charlie didn't say anything as Bella started to scrutinise him while eating her food. "Hey this is really good, you should coo… No way!" Bella dropped her utensils and gaped at her father who was looking down at his food to hide his blushing features. "You met someone!" She pointed at him.

"Yes Bella, I meet people every day, today is no exception." He dodged.

"Haha." She dead-panned. "Who is it? Do I know her? How serious is it?" Bella was beaming now. Her father had been alone since her mother left and that was a long time ago. He deserved to be loved.

"Uh, I met her years ago. You've met her too. I'll tell you what bells. You can see her at the Bonfire they're having at La Push on Friday." He went back to his food.

"Oh, so she lives on the Res?"

"You may not remember her. Sue Clearwater, Harry's wife." Harry had passed away 8 years ago, from a heart attack. Bella couldn't remember him too well though. "You might know her children, Leah and Seth?"

She nodded, "Seth's great, although Leah seems to have it hard, but she's strong." After their first meeting, Bella hadn't really spoken to Leah, but she could see how strong she was. she reminded her of Rosalie.

_Flashback (last year):_

_"Hey, Jake." Bella addressed her friend on the phone._

_"Hey, Bells, Why are we on the phone?" He chuckled, "Come to the Res, or I can come down to Forks."_

_"Sorry Jake, Edward's coming later and I doubt you want to have that meeting." She said knowing of the rivalry between the two._

_"Yeah. Okay, that's not gonna be too great." He said slowly._

_"We should find some time together." She said._

_"Like 'stalkward's' gonna let you." He said with a huff. "Anyway, enough about the Bl… boyfriend, what do you need?"_

_"I met a girl who lives at the Res. You wouldn't happen to know Leah would you?"_

_"Yeah, we're practically cousins, why?"_

_"She was umm, really drunk and wondering around the streets. She said she knew you so I drove her home. Jake, I think she's really hurt, I mean it was a year ago, but it's their anniversary, she told me about her cousin and fiancé, … Sam?"_

_"Yeah, Sam." Jake supplied sad;y._

_After meeting Leah's cousin, Emily, Sam disappeared for a while and when he returned, dumped Leah, telling her that she wasn't the one and that he had fallen for someone else as if all their years of happiness had meant nothing. To Leah's absolute horror and outrage, He and Emily were a couple soon after that. Emily was reluctant at first, thinking of her cousin, but she was in love. It was fate and unknown to many, it was the imprint._

_"Yeah, well. That was a pretty shi-horrible thing to do." Bella said._

_"Yeah, he was pretty adamant he had his reasons though. What do you want me to do? No one can get through to her." He said hopelessly._

_"Help her get revenge or retribution."_

_"Huh?"_

_"She needs to let out her anger and resentment. He's failed to give her the closure she deserves from what I've heard, so I need you to help her. Please Jake. You didn't see her today. I only just met her, but I know something needs to be done."_

_"Okay Bells, for you, and for her. This might take a while to figure out though."_

_"Thanks Jake."_

_End of Flashback._

Charlie lifted their empty plates and took them to the sink. "She's been healing, though I hate that it had to happen to her. She really is amazing, Bells. She reminds me a little of you. Well how you are now, one tough cookie." He shook his head with false exasperation.

Bella nodded her head in agreement.

"You guys might be friends." he said from the sink.

"Psh, friends," She scoffed, "We're gonna be sisters." Bella stated happily.

"Hey there, take it slow. I only asked her out today. I've been helping her family since before Harry died and now, I guess we're closer"

"Yeah, a lot closer." She smirked.

Charlie blushed furiously. "Go do your homework or something!" He pointed to the stairs.

Amused, she said "I'm kidding, dad. Calm down" putting her hands up in surrender, moving towards the stairs. "Thanks for dinner. It was really good."

* * *

She went to her room and sat down at her desk. She had to finish an art project and chose the theme of her work this year, "Darkness". She had wanted to capture the darkness in the most innocent things in life, a fallen leaf, death, a breath of air, consumption, a funeral, a selfish tradition for the living to mourn over their own loss. She also wanted to capture the Beauty and light in the dark or darkest of things.

She was touching up her pencil art of a tree that had been twisted to be art, when she felt a presence in her room. She turned and he was standing in the corner of her room next to her night stand.

"Bella, you are getting better at that." He chuckled.

Bella wasn't sure if he was talking about her drawing or the fact that she caught him in her room, again.

"How long have you been here?" She asked, turning from shocked to angry.

"I missed you this weekend so I waited for some time alone." He said, walking to her for a hug.

"You've been here this whole time?" She asked flabbergasted. She stood up and stepped away from him to avoid his embrace, but he took it anyway.

"I'm sorry, love. I know you said not to come in uninvited, but I wanted to surprise you." He said in her ear. His melodious voice was slightly intoxicating, but Bella knew what it was and, now she was fully aware of it, could shove it to the back of her brain.

She tried to move away, but his arms were set in place around her torso.

"Edward."

He pulled back and gave her a loving smile, happy to have her in his arms. "Yes love?"

"Please let go." She meant that in more ways than one at this point.

"No."

She jerked her head back.

"I'm not leaving you. I've missed you and you're not going to pull away from me. I need to keep you safe. You've been away for the entire weekend, you could have been hurt and I would never know. That is unacceptable." He said

"Edward, you can't tell me what I can and can't do. I don't need you to keep me safe right now. I am in no danger."

"Where were you?"

"La Push and I was in no danger." She repeated.

She only realised he had not been breathing when his nostrils flared and he blurred to the other end of the room. "I've told you not to go there. It's dangerous. You have NO idea of the danger you could have been in!" He snarled at her.

"I know about the wolves Edward. Jake told me the truth and honestly, I think it's pretty cool." She moved to the bathroom to brush her teeth, Edward in tow.

"You know, yet you see no danger. You think it's 'cool'. Bella do you see the problem now? You have no sense of self-preservation. I won't let you put yourself in harm's way like that." He said with a tone of finality.

"What do you mean?" She asked mouth full of toothpaste and dripping down her chin.

Edward's face flashed with disgust for a brief second. "I mean, you are banned from going there. I can't protect you there. You know about the treaty now, so you know I can't keep you safe from those _beasts_." He sneered.

She spat into the sink. "You say they're beasts, but from what I've heard, you're the beast, threatening them just for existing. I don't understand. Jacob said you were threatening them and harassing them before you even knew they were shifters."

Edward huffed and looked away. "Sometimes you don't need to read minds to be able to judge someone's character."

Bella frowned in cogitation. "Don't come in. I have to shower." She said as she picked up some shorts and her SpongeBob shirt off of her bed

"Right now?" He asked, insulted.

"I've been gone the whole weekend, Edward. I'm exhausted and you are not supposed to be here. My father has no idea you're here, so the least you could do is respect his daughter under his roof." She finished shutting the bathroom door in his face.

While she was showering, she was thinking about how to talk to Edward. She had to break up with him. She just had to.

She planned to do it after school. It was a very delicate situation. Bella had learned that vampires have a beast that could arise if it is antagonised and from Edward himself, she learned that vampires are very possessive so he would be irrational, illogical and unpredictable, but who knows? Maybe she had too much of an ego. Maybe Edward would let her go as anyone eventually would. Either way, precautions had to be taken.

She was going to go to the Cullen's after school to, as Rosalie suggested, have protection, as well as tell the family of her decision.

She stepped out of the shower and thought about the conversation she just had. Something was irritating her from his words. "Sometimes you don't need to read minds to be able to judge someone's character."

She stepped into the room and Edward was standing right outside the door. Creepy.

"You hate them because they're Indian?" She questioned.

He didn't even blink when he said, "Yes. I hate them because they're foul, mongrel-shifter Indians that think they have a right to live here, in a white man's nation." (**Read the comments at the end. He's not really racist.)**

Bella was disgusted. How could she not know her soon to be ex-boyfriend was an insufferable, raging racist?

"Get out." She pointed to the door.

"You are an insolent, ignorant child!" He exclaimed, grabbing her left arm. "You refuse to listen to me and you are going to get hurt or killed because of it. You haven't lived for over 100 years and you think you know more than me." He huffed, frustrated and ran his hand through his hair. "You have ten days," He flashed his hand for emphasis, "to come to your senses. If you don't, then we will go someplace, where you can heal and be retaught what you think you know."

"DAD!"

Bella couldn't move from his iron-like grip yet again and felt powerless before the supernatural creature.

Charlie was heard stamping up the stairs, the sound of his rifle being loaded. "Ten days." The door swung open, but Edward was nowhere to be seen. They both sighed in relief.

Charlie pointed the gun down and went to his daughter. "Bella, what's wrong?"

"Edward was here." She pointed towards the window swinging on its hinges. Charlie looked out and when he saw nothing, closed the window and turned the key sitting in the lock.

"Has he done that before?" He questioned her.

She nodded her head, ashamed. "I am to know when anyone is in this house, Bella." He said in his police chief authoritative tone. His voice softened when he asked hauntingly, "Did he hurt you?"

Bella hesitated, but that was enough to confirm it to Charlie. "Where?"

She gently lifted her shirt sleeve to reveal a slowly darkening hand shaped bruise forming on her upper arm.

"That Fucking sleeze-bag! That piece of fucking crap th…" Charlie looked about to march down to the Cullen's at that moment, but Bella's sob made him look up. He held her left elbow and walked her towards the bed where they sat down.

He held her that night, until she fell asleep in his arms. He offered to take Bella to the hospital, but she was too upset and distraught. He spoke to her about old memories of when she was younger. He let his emotions show, to distract his daughter from the painful event that just occurred. She nodded and smiled a little, but hadn't said a word until she woke up alone when morning came.

Bella agreed not to go to school that day and Charlie said he was going to press charges. He took her to the hospital to get her arm checked out. It turned out that Edward had given her a humeral fracture, not quite displaced, but close.

She was prescribed a cast to wear for the next week just for precaution and a sling that would be around for the next 3 weeks at the least.

* * *

**Just so you know, Edward's not really racist and it will be said in two chapters time. He said it to try to sway Bella from going to La Push, but when he sees it didn't help his case, he will apolagise. Sorry if it turned you off the fic:(**

**And sorry about the swearing. Some people are really against it, but I think it was necessary.**

**Just warn me if I go too far. I can always change it. I just wanted to show how there are people out there or living next door that still have these values and it shouldn't be tolerated.**


	11. Bella's different

Rosalie:

Bella is different.

Shit.

She took a calming breath and looked out over the forest, closed her eyes and she listened

The forest thrummed with life around her; the wind washed over her surroundings, the birds whistled and sang their song, the water smashed into the rocks from the river up wind, the animals crept along the forest floor. She listened to the forest sing.

She felt the cool air brush her skin and flick her hair around her face, breathed in the smell of life and of death, vegetation and decay.

"Hey Rose?!" Emmett's voice boomed out into the forest. Rosalie searched for her brother from the height of the red wood she was perched in.

Emmett was walking aimlessly around the forest. It looked like he was lost, but Rosalie knew he was trying to track her scent. She crouched down and looked down amusedly. Eventually Emmett looked up her tree and smiled happily.

"Hey Rosie." He waved.

"Catch me."

She jumped down and Emmett took a run-up, kicked off a nearby tree and caught her in mid-air. He landed flawlessly with Rosalie in his arms. He placed her on her feet and she straightened her clothes.

"Did you need something?" She asked.

"I wanted to talk to you about Bella. I agree with you that Edward is getting out of line, but…" He paused, "Why do I smell her on you?" His eyes narrowed.

Rosalie looked away and tried to hide her expression.

"Rose?" He held her hands. "Rosalie?"

"I ran in to her while I was hunting." She said calmly.

"And you spoke to her?"

She nodded.

"You love her."

She snapped back to him, shock evident.

"Ha!" He pointed to her face, falling back and rolling in laughter. He must not have been affected by the searing glare he was receiving. "Your-your-fa- your face!" He squeezed out between laughs.

"Emmett." She warned.

He stopped laughing, but had a huge grin on his face as he tried to calm down. He put his hands up defensively. Rosalie had a short temper and though he had fun teasing her, that line was very sensitive. "Okay, okay." He took a breath. "But seriously, what did you say to her?"

Rosalie knew her family thought she still hated the human that captured their hearts, but that hadn't been the case recently.

"I told her to be careful around Edward. I told her about my concerns."

"The ones where he's losing his mind right?" He questioned.

"Yes."

"And what did she say?"

They were deep into the forest and far away from the house, but Rosalie listened for anyone in the vicinity. The vampires were all hunting so they could be anywhere.

She stood on her toes and grabbed his shoulders to whisper into Emmett's ear. He leant down to close the distance.

"She said she was going to leave him anyway. I told her to do it with the family just in case."

"What?!" Emmett stepped back in surprise but quickly recovered. "No way girl, you trippin'." His voice took on the tone it took when he wanted to make Rosalie smile.

She rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Well Eddy is going to be pretty upset about that." Emmett said seriously.

Rosalie snorted and they made their way to the house, hand in hand.

"Hey, yeah, so I was going to talk to you about Bella." Emmett got back on track.

Their arms stopped swinging and Rosalie sighed. "What about her?"

"Do you love her?"

Rosalie raised an eyebrow.

"No, I mean you're cool with her now aren't you? You don't hate her anymore. No, it's more than that. I can see she makes you feel… better, you like her."

Rosalie frowned, was it that obvious? "Yes. She is much more likable now. She doesn't look like she's trying to be someone she's not. She always seemed like she was bending over backwards to be whatever gave others happiness in exchange for her own."

"What do you mean? Like when?"

"When she first arrived in Forks, she acted like all new students do. She was shy, she tried to blend in. That's completely fine, but she never grew out of it. She kept trying to blend in. She changed her whole life to be with Edward. She let Alice take her on day long shopping trips and we all know how uncomfortable she is with that. Even with me, she has always pushed to get me to like her, she didn't realise she was doing just the opposite."

Rosalie saw sadness in Emmett's face as she spoke. "I never noticed."

"No one did." Rosalie tried to reassure him with a squeeze of his massive hand.

He suddenly stepped in front of her and they stopped walking. "What about me? Did I make her do something she was uncomfortable with?" he asked worriedly.

Rosalie smiled. "No Emmett, you were the only one that she seemed completely comfortable with. She's changed everything about herself and she's happy. With you though, she's the same. You always let her be herself."

"How do you know?" he asked removing her hands from his shoulders and holding them in his own.

She paused in thought. "I didn't know. I didn't like her before, but now that she is being herself I can see how much she was suppressing, how uncomfortable and pained she was before. Can you see it?"

Emmett nodded slowly. "Yeah, seeing her now… she was in bad shape before. How come we didn't see it?"

Rosalie had thought of this. "We never knew what she was like before she came to us. I guess we thought it was normal." She shrugged.

Emmett nodded thoughtfully. "I really don't want her to hurt Edward though. He thought they were mates, but I guess they weren't.

Rosalie and Edward had never been close, their personalities clashed too much and their history would never have allowed them to even be friends.

She knew what Emmett meant though. A vampire's mate is thought to be their soul mate. Vampire logistics are not well researched contrary to their ancient existence. Being supernatural, facts can get blurry or completely unexplainable.

What Rosalie knows is that it is thought that everything has a soul mate, a counterpart, another that completes them and that vampires just have a more pronounced reaction towards theirs.

Rosalie had been planning to take another one of her trips soon. She wanted to learn about vampirism and about the world. 'Mates' was something she had yet to investigate in detail.

They heard the sound of leaves swiping off branches and they turned to see Edward speeding for the house. Emmett stepped in his way and put a hand on his shoulder.

Edward pushed back and tried to move past him, but Emmett, being the annoying little brother he was, refused.

"Hey buddy, what's up?" His face was amused, but Rosalie could hear the hint of worry in his voice. She frowned, but understood. Emmett didn't want Edward to lose his mate but he had said he agreed with her.

Edward looked up menacingly and hissed at him "Let me go."

Emmett was taken aback. "Woah, sorry man." He yanked his hand back from his shoulder to let him pass.

Rosalie stepped in before Edward could move away. "What's got your panties in a bunch?"

Edward tried to pass her but when she blocked him, he shoved her harshly to the side. Seeing this, Emmett shoved him back and he skidded three meters back, in to a tree that cracked on impact.

"Hey man, don't touch her!" Emmett may love his brother, but Rose was his soft spot, his best friend and mother at times. "Tell us what's wrong. What happened with Bella?"

Edward groaned in pain and reluctantly apologised to Rosalie as he regained his footing. He looked at each of the vampires calculatingly and stood up straighter. "We got into another fight. She told me to leave. I think she'll want to be away from us for a while. She looked afraid."

Emmett looked sad to hear that and started walking to the house with Edward, Rosalie followed them a step behind.

She thought about Bella and saw some inconsistencies with her past and Edward's recount. Bella had never been afraid of them. Not once. Even on her 17th birthday when Jasper all but attacked her and Edward threw her into a table, she wasn't afraid and if she was, it was when her arm was sliced open by the glass table.

Jasper came to Rosalie with his worries after the incident. He told her that Bella wasn't scared when he almost attacked, his empathy abilities detected that she felt calm and the faintest bit excited. Bella wanted to be a vampire. She knew the family wouldn't let Jasper kill her and she wanted Jasper to bite her.

Jasper had told Alice of his findings, but Rosalie embraced vampirism like no one else in the family and they always had discussions about trivial matters like that so he wanted her input.

Rosalie spun around and sped off in the direction of Bella's house. Bella wasn't afraid of them. Edward lied.

Then her phone rang.

"Hale."

"Rosalie, it's Tanya"

She stopped. "Tanya?"

"Can we speak?"

"Uh…"

Tanya and her coven, the Denali's were their 'cousins' that lived in Alaska. They were the only other known coven to live off animal blood and it is for that reason that their covens recognised a bond between the two in the first place. That bond eventually became a relationship and they'd agreed to be a 'family'. Trips between the two were spaced out by years at a time, unless of course, an urgent need of sanctuary was called for.

Because they were not very common and it involved the movement of a whole coven, those visits tended to be scheduled more formally through their coven leader, so Rosalie was very confused as to why Tanya, the Denali coven leader was calling her.

"I'm close. Can we meet at the boarder by La Push? It's important." Tanya addressed Rosalie's confusion.

"Sure. Be careful." She snapped the phone shut and changed directions. Bella would have to wait.

She arrived at the border to find a sight that made her take immediate action.

Tanya, Kate and Irina Denali were on the other side of the border and behind them was the pack of Quileute wolves, all but two were in human form.

Rosalie blurred to the vampires and yanked each of them to her side. They stumbled and fell to the ground. One of the wolves tried to pounce on Rosalie, but Tanya shot up and shoved him away. He fell to the ground and stepped back in formation with a pout and his tail between his legs.

"Child." She muttered quietly.

Irina blurred to shove Tanya, "Hey!"

Rosalie grabbed both of them and pulled them back again. "You can't go there! You know we have a treaty with the Quileutes." She hissed stepping in front of the pile of vampires to block them from the wolves. She felt a hand on her shoulder and Tanya stepped in front of her.

"Rosalie, look at me" Tanya ordered.

Rosalie tore her eyes away from the group and submitted to the coven leader.

"Stand down, they are no threat to us." She assured in an authoritative tone.

Rosalie slowly and reluctantly stood up out of her defensive crouch.

* * *

**KK guys. I know you wanted Rose to rip Edward apart and he deserves it, but I was hoping his absence would leave a little Bella/Rosalie time. They need to develop and his freaking hovering won't let that happen.**

**DW Rose will beat his ass, just not now. In fact, why not let Bella have a go at him too?**

**Mating bonds are iffy right now. I think it will be more of a soul mate thing. More human. The normal love thang, but with vampires it's stronger. I don't know. Guess we'll find out though:)**

**Review. constructive criticism. I'll try to please, but I really thought their time together was more important than murdering Eddy at this time. That and Bella is a little traumatised by him.**

**Yeah, I know it was a weird way to end this one, but I wanted to introduce the Denali's. So if it doesn't make sense, I will be trying to explain in the next one.**


	12. Sam?

**BAM. Done**

**... This might get confusing. PM me if it's too complicated or something. I can change it. Everything was all over the place and even I was confused. If I got anything majorly wrong, just tell me so I can fix it, but remember there are major plot changes.**

**The current pack is going to consist of Sam, Paul, Jacob, Seth, Leah, Embry, Jared and Quil.**

**Yeah, anyway, sorry if it's confusing.**

* * *

"I don't understand."

Rosalie stood side on, facing the length of the boarder. 8 shape shifters on her right and her 3 vampire cousins on her left. The wolves were all differing shades of brown and grey and two of them were in human form. The Vampires were obviously extremely attractive and blonde. Kate was shorter than Rosalie, but only just. Irina and Tanya were both close to her height and they were all wearing a mixture of loose fitting button ups and shirts, khakis and jeans.

She had to keep her guard up with the Quillette shifters, but respect the demand of attention from the Alaskan coven leader. Both instincts of submission and defence were battling inside.

"Why are they no threat to you?" She asked without taking her eyes off the pack.

"Well, hello to you too Rosalie." A curly haired and gorgeous blonde spoke amusedly from the ground. She sat where she was dropped only seconds ago, on her back with her elbows propping her up to smile amusedly at Rosalie.

"Rosalie, it's okay. We are safe. They have allowed us on their land. We have a treaty now." Tanya said, taking her hand off Rosalie's shoulder. "When we are in Forks or La Push, we are to be supervised by the wolves until we can gain their trust."

"I don't understand." She repeated and let her guard down.

"Okay, why don't we tell you why we're here and then you can tell us why you are safe, because when we called, they said you were the only Cullen allowed on their land." Tanya suggested.

Rosalie nodded and Tanya began the tale. "Two days ago, we received a call from Edward. He asked if he could stay at our place sometime in the next week. When we asked him why, he responded saying he was having trouble controlling his blood lust."

Irina took over, "We connected the dots. He has only ever once needed to come to us to control his blood lust until last year, when he found his singer. We figured that if his blood lust was still in his way, he must still have her not only living, but have her near. We allowed him refuge in our home, but covertly came to investigate the situation down in Forks.

Tanya took back the story, "The Wolves were running the perimeter when we crossed the now expanded boarder to find you. We weren't told they had expanded their perimeter." Tanya said and Rosalie gave her an ashamed bow of her head.

"We were going to tell you the next time we spoke, usually you call first."

Tanya sighed and nodded her head. "I don't know exactly why they stopped their attack, but we are thankful they let us explain ourselves." she gave the wolves a small grateful smile. "We want to find out if this human, Bella, is a risk to your or our coven."

"Why me?" Rosalie asked. "Why did you call _me_ here, why not just schedule a meeting with my coven?" She leaned against the tree as if she was uncomfortable standing for so long. It was just so natural now, to act human.

Irina answered, "Because you don't love him." Rosalie started to protest. "We know you may care for Edward, enough that you wouldn't want the Volturi to find out about his human pet, but you would not lie to us if what we think is true."

"and what do you think is true?"

"We think Edward has kept the girl alive, his singer. We think he wants to possess her blood, but not drink it. Last year when he told us about her, he couldn't shut up about her blood. It was fucking annoying." Kate huffed.

Rose shook her head, "He loves her."

"So she's still alive." Irina said, "Does she know about us?"

Rosalie frowned and nodded, "Yeah, but what makes you think he wants to 'possess' her blood?"

"He would have killed her by now like he told us he would. The only reason he would keep her alive is if he had fallen for the girl or her blood. I don't believe it is very easy to separate the two. That could also be why she's not a vampire right now. If she were, she would have no blood." Tanya said seriously. "Has he been acting emotional, obsessive or clingy towards her?"

Rosalie nodded slowly and half joked, "Yeah, but he's like that all the time, even before we met her."

"You know we hold Volturi law of the highest importance after what happened with our mother. We won't let that happen again." Irina said in a broken voice.

Rosalie nodded in understanding. The Denali sisters lost their maker after she created an immortal child. The Votluri govern vampires worldwide. They keep the secret from the humans and will do it by any means necessary. It was only because Sasha's coven had no knowledge of the boy that they escaped with their half dead lives. This all happened over 100 years ago, but the bond with their maker was strong and their love for their 'mother', stronger.

"We've come to kill her." Kate informed her.

"What?!" Sam spoke up from their side of the boarder. "You never said that! You said you would cut the Cullen's ties with Bella and that's it! You are not allowed on our land or in Forks any longer. We…"

"We didn't lie, Sam. If Edward's keeping her human, she can't live, weather we do it or the Volturi, this way at least we don't get punished." Tanya said calmly.

"You can't kill Bella." Rosalie said and everyone turned to look at the blonde.

"Rosalie…" Tanya started.

"She doesn't deserve death for what was Edward's fault. She wasn't meant to know about us. Change her. Make her one of us. If she's one of us, none of you will be condemned by the Volturi and the wolves won't attack." Rosalie negotiated.

"No one will be changing anyone into a vampire." Sam growled out.

"Would you rather her be killed in cold blood?" Irina said, beginning to accept the idea.

Sam was about to make a case when Rosalie informed them, "She wants it. She wants to be a vampire. Ask her. If we do it, it will not be against her will."

The pack released a loud growl.

"Sam, I think she's right. Bella likes the supernatural and all things mystical. She was like that as a child and she's becoming like that again. We should at least ask her" said the only other non-phased member of the pack. Rosalie recognised him as Bella's friend Jacob.

Sam motioned for the pack to phase and when they returned from the trees as wolves, they created a circle where they began their mind link consultation and the four vampires were left to speak to one another.

"So why are you allowed on their land Rosalie?" Kate asked.

"It's a long story. I'll let Sam explain though, and you can't tell the others. They don't understand and the wolves don't trust them."

"Oh, come on, just tell us." Kate pushed.

"Okay. We'll wait for him then." Irina said.

Kate plopped down again with a huff and the vampires followed, facing the circle of wolves.

"Why didn't they just attack you? They had every right to." Rosalie questioned.

"I don't know." Tanya said. They were in position to attack, but they suddenly stopped. We explained we were here to pry apart the Cullen's relationship with Bella and with the fact that we don't drink human blood they wouldn't allow us to pass, but let us call you to the boarder on condition that when we are here, we are to be supervised by the pack. Otherwise, we are allowed on their land. They see it as safer to be on good terms with constant supervising than to fight and create an enemy like they have with your coven."

The wolves slowly stepped into the shadows to phase and half of them had phased back to human form when Sam spoke.

"If what you say is true, that Bella will die one way or another and we know for sure she wants to be a vampire, she can be changed, but only by Rosalie. No other vampire bites a human."

"What's up with you and Rosalie? Why are you guys so buddy-buddy?" Kate asked. She turned to Rosalie. "We asked if they would allow you on their land because they allowed us, and they said yes, but only, and I quote "the blonde haired bitch."

Rosalie flinched at that.

"Did you guys bang or something?" Kate asked, but she was easily ignored other than the quiet snickering of some of the Quillettes.

"You three cannot stay in La Push or Forks any longer, but she can." Sam pointed to Rosalie. "She has gained my trust years ago." the one grey wolf that pounced at Rosalie earlier nudged Sam's leg and he sighed, "Fine, the Denalis' can all cross the border unharmed, but that is only if you can swear not to kill or turn anyone in Washington and you are still going to be supervised."

Tanya nodded, "As long as she is turned."

"That is still not cemented yet. We want proof that she wants this and that there truly is no other alternative." Sam said.

"Okay, fine!" Kate exclaimed. "We will wait and be guarded by you dogs so that we don't kill Bella. Can you please tell us the story for how you got with Rosalie? The suspense is killing me!"

He looked to Rosalie. "You can tell them." She said.

The Denali's settled themselves down for the story as one by one, the six wolves that weren't phased sat down and the others lay flat on their stomachs, looking to be going to sleep. Guess they know the story.

"It was six years ago, I had phased for the first time." Sam looked very pained and Rosalie sat up straighter. Although vampires have a very good memory, it's not perfect, but she did remember this one. "I had gone through the very painful process just as we all had." He gestured to his pack. "But I was alone."

All four vampires were paying rapt attention.

"I ran into the forest. I had no idea what was happening to me," Jacob placed a supporting hand on his shoulder. "You were hunting. You and the big one, I thought he was your boyfriend."

Kate let out a growl.

Rosalie jumped in to clarify. "Emmett is not my mate, he is Kate's. I don't have a mate."

The growl ceased and Sam apologised and continued. "I'm sorry. I knew he wasn't your…mate… when I heard you speak. I had been running for weeks when I saw you hunting. I had the urge to kill you, my instincts told me to and I would have if I wasn't outnumbered."

"What did they say?" Kate interrupted.

"Uh, he was sad. He was away from… well I guess it was you. He said he couldn't go back to Alaska and looked pretty upset. Something about how he couldn't take the rejection any longer. Rosalie told him something along the lines of, 'I think she feels it too, I have the feeling she's the one, just be persistent, but don't box her in. She isn't one to be tied down.' And he hugged her. I don't know, they said some other mushy stuff and then jumped some trees.

Rosalie turned to see Kate giving her the most awestruck expression "Rosalie! Thankyou," Rosalie was winded with the force of the enthused blonde's body tackling her to the ground in a hug. "Thankyou so much. I didn't know. He would have given up if it wasn't for you!"

"Kate." Rosalie coughed out. She shoved her attacker by the shoulders and she flew into the other two sisters who caught her easily and sat her down again holding her in place as she tried to get to Rosalie again, muttering things like, "I almost lost my mate. I'm so emotionally stuffed up. Rose! You…" Tanya covered her mouth and gestured for Sam to carry on.

The man cleared his throat to regain their attention and he went on. "Anyway, I followed them until he left and she was alone."

"I attacked, but she twisted and grabbed me by the neck. She put me back onto the ground and spoke to me. She told me to stand down, that she was no threat and after seeing how she treated her brother, I was inclined to believe her, but only just."

"So, what? You just phased back? That's pretty stupid. She could have been someone else and killed you." Kate exclaimed.

"No, it was because she started talking to me. She knew what I was and that was the exact thing that I needed. I needed to understand what happened to me and what to do. I was afraid and lost, but she could tell me what I needed to know, or at least some of it."

Tanya looked to Rosalie. "How did you know what he was if he was the first to phase?"

"He wasn't. He's just the first in his generation. We met the last wolves of La Push over one hundred years ago, we made a treaty with them too. When I spoke with Sam, I realised the elders hadn't informed the changing humans about their ancestors, that or they didn't know." Rosalie replied.

"They told us legends, old tribal stories, but they stopped believing in them a long time ago and anyone who did believe them were thought to be insane, until I phased." Sam said.

"Okay so what happened? What did she tell you?" Kate asked.

"He was in bad condition. He had bad animal wounds that were still healing and looked malnourished." Rosalie recalled.

"I had been out there for weeks. I didn't know my strengths and weaknesses. I didn't know how to hunt in my wolf form and I didn't know how to phase back. She helped me." Sam said.

"I returned to the reservation as a well fed human after she taught me to hunt. After that, when her family threatened us or pushed us to agree to things we weren't comfortable with, she made them walk away." He cracked a smile. "She claimed we smelled too bad to stick around or that we weren't worth it, but I knew how she felt about us. It's too bad not all her family agreed."

Kate asked Rosalie, "How did you know how to phase?"

"I was friends with a wolf once." All the shifters stood to attention and shock registered on all the Denalis. "I met him much the same way as I met Sam. We learnt things about each other and I passed that knowledge on to Sam. I told him about phasing, the pack mind, what it's like under the instruction of the Alpha and imprinting as far as I had learned."

The denalis looked at Rosalie like she'd just spoken gibberish, but the shifters all had mixed expressions of shock, awe and admiration.

"We might still be friends, but Carlisle and Edward found us and attacked him. We were on our side of the boarder and he thought Quil was attacking me. I tried to tell them, but they went off about how we shouldn't mix with them and all this bullshit about our 'natural enemy'. After that incident the wolves treated us as monsters and we never spoke after that. I think he would have if he could."

All the shifters looked to one man on the side of the pack. He put up his hands in defence, "Hey, don't look at me, she must be talking about gramps. Oh," He walked forward and held out his hand to Rosalie. The pack followed him and growled out their disapproval. "I'm Quil Atera IV. I think you're talking about my grandfather."

Rosalie stepped forward and shook his hand despite the slightly shaking shifters behind him. "He's still alive?" She asked hopefully. "If I'm allowed on your land, I would like to see him. I want to apologise for what happened all those years ago."

"Yes, he is alive. He was the last one to find his imprint so he is the last of his pack. He stopped shifting decades ago to age with her. He's old, very old. He's deaf and can barely speak, but he can see. I guess he can see you." Quil informed.

Sam stepped beside Quil to speak to Rosalie. "You will come to the bonfire on Friday. You can speak with him then."

Rosalie nodded.

"So you're allowed on their land, but you haven't seen your friend?" Irina asked.

"I thought he died years ago. I never got to tell Sam that I knew Quil and I have had no reason to go on their land. Although I'm allowed, I would rather not create trouble."

Jacob took his turn and asked, "Why doesn't your family know you eat rapists?" He must have learned this from Sam in the pack mind.

"Jake, I don't…" Sam stepped towards him.

"I didn't think they would allow me to remain in the coven unless I didn't kill humans." Rosalie replied. "I needed a coven, especially when I was a newborn. I kept to the animal diet and never drank a drop of human blood. I think it was for that reason that I never seemed to have a problem with bloodlust, but 20 years ago I heard it happening a block away from where I was. That's what broke my control." She paused, nervous to how the wolves would react. "Just remember, that's the only humans I eat. If I was lying, Sam would have killed me."

Jacob nodded in contemplation. Those six years ago Sam had acquiesced stating that rapists were open game and that it would not damage the treaty.

Tanya continued. "Vampires are not all monster. We can be civilised, but we have to be able to control that monster. We call it the 'beast'. When we set it free, it makes our deepest desires known. It's the thing in us that demands blood. It makes us protective and territorial. It is still us, but in our most primal state. Rosalie's only desire was to stop that woman from being raped. It is the only thing that caused her to lose control of her blood lust in the 73 years she's lived. She should be commended for having such control."

"Since then, she's been trying to ease herself out of the coven. She doesn't think she will be accepted if they find out she continues that diet along with theirs." Irina said sadly. "Unfortunately, I think that is true for some of them. Carlisle is known as the founder of the animal blood diet. We will accept her in our coven."

"It's taken her 20 years to ease herself out?" One of the younger men who had phased earlier asked. Most of the wolves had gone into the forest to phase back. Three remained human.

Tanya shook her head. "Time is different for us when it comes to other vampires. We are immortal. Slow for us is a lifetime for you."

"You will learn how that feels." Rosalie said, referring to the fact that the wolves could be practically immortal if they shifted regularly.

A loud snore was heard from the back of the pack and everyone craned their necks to see a small wolf spread out on the leaves, sleeping happily. Quil kicked him awake. "Seth, get up. Stop being a lump." He jumped up and whimpered as he skulked away.

Sam announced, "We will allow you to turn Bella." At least two of the wolves bared their teeth with a growl. "Only if she is willing. And you four must be watched while you're here." He pointed to the Denalis'

Irina was the first to move and she immediately strolled over to the wolves and ran her hand through the fur of the grey wolf that had tried to pounce on Rosalie earlier that day.

Rosalie looked at the sisters quizzically and Tanya nodded. Irina had found her mate.

"I think that's why they didn't attack us on sight." Tanya whispered.

The newly mated vampire turned around and beckoned for her sisters and Rosalie to join her.

"I have to go to school. It's morning." She replied to the women.

"Talk to Bella, we will speak at the bon fire." Said Sam.

* * *

"Tanya can I speak with you?"

The coven leader walked back to Rosalie and told her sisters to carry on.

"What's the problem Rosalie?"

"I'm not going to change Bella if she doesn't want me to."

Tanya's eyes widened. "I see." They started walking behind the Quillettes when they were out of hearing range.

"If she doesn't want to be a vampire, I won't let anyone else do it either and I sure as hell won't let anyone kill her." Rosalie didn't want to look Tanya in the eye and so kept her gaze straight ahead. Tanya was usually quite pleasant to be around, but when she took on her coven leader persona even Rosalie wavered in confidence.

"Can I ask why?"

Rosalie nodded. "She doesn't realise, but I'm offering her my protection. I am willing to give her my word."

"Why?" Tanya looked the slightest bit taken aback at this statement. In the current time giving someone your word could mean little to nothing but during the time Rosalie was alive, in the Great depression, a persons' word or promise was something that was held in very high regard. With money being so scarce and no dispute resolution methods promising to pay for essentials was all that could be offered sometimes and sometimes it would be necessary to agree to such flimsy terms in order to feed your family.

As a vampire, the value of a persons' word is also quite valuable, needing or wanting nothing else, keeping a promise is all that is worth anything and allows alliances and trust to be created. It was kind of like paying debts. If you didn't pay back what you owe, your reputation goes down the drain and there is no reason for anyone to trust you again.

"It's what she deserves and all I can give her for what I did."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing." Tanya stopped in her tracks. She wasn't playing games. Her coven and family were at risk.

Rosalie kept going, not noticing Tanya stopped. "I stood by while Edward messed with her mind and isolated her from her family and friends. No one else could see it. They were blinded by love for him, love for her, love for love. Kate was right. I definitely don't love him and I don't love her, in fact, I truly despised her for letting him do that to her and that's why I saw it, but I didn't act." She stopped.

"Why didn't you act?"

Rosalie stopped walking and looked into the trees, Tanya watching from behind.

"Why didn't you act Rosalie?"

"I didn't know what to do. It was happening again."

Tanya walked closer to Rosalie and placed her hand on her shoulder. "What was happening again?"

"I didn't tell you and your sisters much about me as a human just before Carlisle bit me."

Rosalie proceeded to tell her about her life before that night.

* * *

_Rochester, New York (1933):_

_Her life was perfect. Royce would make it perfect. She was beautiful, financially secure, was to be married in five weeks and probably pregnant in a month._

_"I'm just going to drop in on my parents. They're helping with the flowers and the dress." Rosalie draped her golden hair around her shoulders and touched up her lipstick looking in the hallway mirror._

_Royce walked to the door with his hands in his pockets. "Come back by 5, it's dangerous out there."_

_Rosalie knew it was dangerous out there. People were starving and slaving for their families and they, Royce's family and hers were living in comfort and luxury. They were very lucky to have not suffered much when the Great depression hit, but her family was starting to feel the strain. It was why she was getting married so soon._

_"I'll be back here searching for you before you know it." She leaned in and pecked his scruffy beard with her lips, grabbed her coat and stepped out the door._

* * *

_The next week:_

_"Honey, no." She giggled in his arms as he kissed open mouthed kisses down her neck. "Vera's waiting for me."_

_"Is she more important than me?" He breathed against her skin, his rough beard scratching her jaw._

_"Royce, she's my friend." She smiled and tried to push his arms off from around her waist but was unsuccessful._

_"I don't think we get enough time together. You're spending all your time with her. We need some time." He kissed her softly on the lips._

_"I haven't seen her all week."_

_"And I haven't seen_ you_ all day."_

* * *

Rosalie stood with her back against the tree and Tanya on her right.

"That's how it started. He would slowly cut me off from seeing the people I cared about. He made me think he was my world and that he was the only one worth anything, including myself. I let him do it. I thought he was giving me everything when in reality, he took it all away. I saw it happen to Bella for much longer than it happened to me and I wanted her to be stronger. I wanted her to fight it but she didn't. I thought," She paused, "I thought if she couldn't fight it, she had to face the consequences like I had. That she was weak and if no one helped me then I shouldn't have to help her."

Rosalie slid down the tree and sat at its base. "The truth is that I was scared. I didn't know what to do."

Tanya had never seen Rosalie so dishevelled and emotional like this and to be honest, it unnerved her. "Rosalie, no one can understand what you went through." Rosalie stood up and composed herself immediately. She didn't want Tanya's sympathy or pity.

"No. There's no excuse. That was decades ago, almost a century, it should have made me do something, anything. I didn't, and now I owe her my protection." She said trying to close herself up again.

"Rosalie, if you don't do it then we will. It will break our treaty with the wolves and Irina might lose the one who she thinks is her mate, but we have been hurt too and we will not let it happen again.

Ouch.

"Then you understand. That's exactly what I failed to do; stop history from repeating itself, from unnecessary hurt. Now because I failed, I have instead offered my protection. So if she decides she doesn't want this life, I will hide her from both you and the Volturi." Rosalie knew that was a cheap shot, but she had to get her point across. "I will help her run."

Tanya actually looked hurt for a split second, but regained her composure and sighed. "I will talk to the others. The last thing we want is to be like the bastards who killed our mother. I've never thought of it that way."

"Talk to your sisters. I know at least you understand what I want." Rosalie turned her back on the coven leader and started the walk home. The Sun was rising.

"And I know you understand why we're doing this," Tanya's voice carried over to Rosalie over her shoulder. She nodded, "But I will speak with my sisters and see if they feel the same as I do. We will be at the Reservation until Friday."

"Thank you."

* * *

**Yeah, yeah. Don't get your panties in a bunch. Next chapter's all Bella and Rosalie. Just give me a few hours and it'll be up. The rest of the story will be about them. I think Bella's grown enough. It's time.**

**I'm sorry it's so slow, but this is how it is. I kind of set a deadline with Edward and stuff, so it kind of threw me off. It'll speed up.**

**Tell me what kind of relationship they could have. It could be like really close, but I'm thinking of a more open one. **

**What will be the catalyst? Jealous rage? horrible incident and hero type thing? Sudden realization?**

**Can Eddy do anything to deserve forgiveness?**

**Review and spill it.**


	13. Chapter 13

**I decided to post this one now because you guys weren't all too happy about how little Bella/Rose action has been going.**

**I'm sorry, but updates are gonna be really dodgy for a few weeks lots**** School stuff is coming up.**

**I'll try to write some stuff, but it probs won't be update material until I get some time. On the other hand, I got a pretty good grade for Lit, so I can't be that pathetic. I mean I _am_ writing a twilight fanfic… KIDDING. I love writing this stuff. It's fun.**

**Hope this is fine. Writing is hard. I should have written the whole thing before I began posting my fic. Anyway here you go.**

**I'm tired now. So Imma eat breakfast. Yes my American readers, here in Australia we are eating breakfast when you're eating like dinner or something, weeeellll, a really late breakfast. Maybe brunch? I'm sorry, I just woke up. I'll stop now.**

**Enjoy.**

The wind hit the window hard. The trees swayed dangerously. Only the stormy wind could be heard from where I sat in my room, working on catching up with the weekend's homework I had neglected. Damn lucky he didn't bust this arm. I thought bitterly.

I had come back from the hospital about 3 hours ago and hadn't been left alone as of yet, mainly due to the fact that I hadn't wanted to be left alone or confront Edward's family immediately.

Dad was downstairs in the kitchen after I had let him feed his burning urge to file the report of assault, harassment and a restraining order on Edward in my name because I was still too young to legally do it myself. Sadly none of these protections can stop a vampire.

Dad hadn't been able to call or visit the Cullens. He wanted to do it face to face, but right now, I needed him.

A knock downstairs had us both on edge. I knew my friends would call after school to ask about my absence, but school didn't finish for another 4 hours.

I slowly made my way downstairs, curious and slightly fearful. I stopped on the top step, hidden from view when Dad opened the door.

"Can I help you?"

"Chief Swan, I'm… a friend of Bella's." I heard the last person I thought would ever visit, ever. "She wasn't at school and I was concerned."

"You're one of them." His voice was slowly turning venomous, "You, you're his sister. You are not welcome here."

I heard the door closing and I stepped out from the shadows, in plain sight and said my first words of the day. "It's fine dad. That's Rosalie, she's… she's a friend."

Rosalie looked up the stairs and stared at the sling that was partially hidden by my body.

"Bella." Dad sounded surprised to hear my voice after so much waiting to get a sound out of me. Just that fact seemed to make him re-consider the visitor at the door. "Are you sure? You don't have to; we have every right to refuse."

Dad was hardly ever so blunt and I knew he really would try to kick Rosalie to the curb if I said so. He was in parenting protective mode and I felt so grateful to have my father around.

"She… I know I can trust her dad." I said with a serious expression.

Charlie allowed Rosalie to stay, but said he would check up on us every so often and that the door to my room was to be left open.

Rosalie stood at the door to my room and I motioned for her to enter, pointing her to sit at her desk chair as I curled up against the headboard of my bed to face her.

I watched as Rosalie glided to the desk slightly less graceful than I had seen Rosalie perform so offhandedly as long as I'd known her. Her hair was everywhere yet she still looked as if someone had styled it so.

My eyes met hard, glistening gold.

"You were right." I said.

"I was right." Rosalie said. "I'm sorry."

I was caught off guard at the apology. I expected more of an 'I told you so' Speech. "Don't be. It's not your fault." I said honestly.

"I should have given you more warning. I should have stopped you from coming home when I knew he was waiting, or come with you." Rosalie's voice was calm, her eyes moving to the window. "He's gone now. He fled, but he will return. He can't be without you."

"Funny, it sounds so romantic, yet that just makes me more afraid." I chuckled weakly.

We were silent for a long while, Rosalie staring out the window and me staring at her.

"How bad is it?" Rosalie asked tensely.

I looked down to the cast set around my left humerus and sighed "It hurts. He grabbed my arm and he was angry. They said…

"What?! He said you fell!" I brought my knees to my chest as Rosalie lost her calm demeanour, stood up and approached me slowly despite the fury I could see boiling in her eyes.

I was grateful for the slow movements because I felt very vulnerable at this moment.

"Let me?" I nodded although I jerked away when Rosalie lent down.

She sniffed the wound and stepped back. I shuffled to the edge of the bed when Rosalie started growling softly. "He broke your arm." Rosalie turned around to face away from me. I guess she didn't want to scare me when her eyes unavoidably darkened.

"It's not that bad, they said it's fractured, and tha..." I tried to correct.

"He broke your freaking arm!" She screeched.

I was glad she couldn't see her eyes right now because in my shaken state, I may have crumpled right there. "Did he hurt you anywhere else?" There was fear in her voice, but it was overridden with anger.

"No. Not physically." I said slowly. Psychologically, he beat me to a pulp. Not to mention I let him.

Rosalie started leave, growling viciously, "I'm going to kill him, rip _his_ arms off and feed them to him. He's going to…"

I was starting to feel fearful, Rosalie was speaking to herself at this point, but I didn't want her to leave. "Don't leave."

Rosalie snapped to attention. "Why not?"

"I have ten days." I said weakly, "He said he would return in ten days."

"And?"

"Can't we wait?" Ugh, I'm pathetic.

Rosalie looked into my eyes and saw the fear I felt. I didn't want to see Edward yet and I didn't want her to leave.

I could see the internal debate she was having. Would she push me to face him again? Her beast was growing closer and closer to the surface.

In her eyes I could see the need she had to release her anger and fury. She needed to regain control and she was looking into _my_ eyes to get it. I could see it. I was grounding her. It may have been the light, but I'm pretty sure her pitch black eyes lightened a touch as she focused on my eyes.

I tried to move to the other side of the bed when she moved to sit down, but as she did, she leaned in to me and I froze. She curled against me, wrapped her arm around my waist and put her head on my shoulder, eyes closed, nodding.

The fuck is happening? I stiffened. I had a vampire in my arms, Rosalie Hale no less. There was no precedent for this.

Rosalie's head was on my good shoulder, sitting against my side as I sat stunned. My arm was hovering over the vampire, unsure of how to react.

Rosalie reached for my right arm and pulled it around her own waist so that my hand was flat against her stomach. I gasped.

I tried to move away, but Rosalie growled and opened her onyx eyes to warn me. Rosalie was trying to control her beast. She needed to kill Edward, hurt him, but I wanted her here.

"If you don't want me to leave and kill him, you have to hold me here. I can't…" she choked, "I can't…"

I was reminded of my first few months living in Forks. Edward had saved me from a gang rape and he could barely stay in control. He needed me to distract him. He needed me to control the beast inside. It must be a vampire thing. I guess Rosalie is no exception.

"I… I know." I said. I pulled the beautiful vampire in close and held her there, still aware that my blood must be calling to her. Definitely no precedent. Edward never let _me_ hold _him_.

Why do I get the feeling '_the other guy' _is going to emerge if I let her go?

"Say something. Distract me."

"What did he say to you?" I asked after a while.

"I came to my senses." Rosalie's voice quickly lost the venom as she turned to speak to me, eyes completely black again. "I was going to come back for you. He ran in to me, leaving your house. He said you got angry at him and shoved him, that you fell back and hurt your arm. He said you were afraid of us and that you wanted to be alone." She growled.

I was touched that Rosalie had tried to come back and eventually did even though she was too late. This girl can't hate me.

"I'm going to rip off his arms when he comes back. He won't touch you again." Rosalie promised.

I realised I hadn't really done a good job of distracting her and mentally face-palmed. "Please don't. Not now."

Rosalie turned to look me in the eye. "You're still going to break up with him right?"

I pulled back and lifted my eyebrows as if asking if she was insane.

Rosalie just returned to my shoulder and settled back as she pulled me in. I was oddly, effectively restraining her. "Good."

I squirmed insecurely for a moment.

Rosalie noticed and moved behind me. She lifted my shocked body up like a child and placed me in her lap, snaking her arms around my waist and pulling me in close. She reached around and placed my good arm on top of hers, still trying to make a flimsy restraint for her beast. All these movements were gentle so as to not hurt my seriously fractured arm. "Is this okay?" She asked, instability still in her growl.

I was suddenly surrounded by Rosalie's fresh scent, redolent of the air after a storm in the forest outside my window, so different to the over-sweet fragrance that trailed Edward which I now associated with anxiety and depression.

Dad knocked on the door frame and I startled. "Sorry girls. Is everything okay in here?" dad looked very awkward and out of place peaking his head around the door.

"We're fine." I replied, "Thanks dad." Rosalie nodded against my shoulder.

Charlie raised his eyebrows, taking in our position. I just shrugged. This was understandably weird.

"Your father is a very good father." Rosalie said softly next to my ear after he left downstairs. She had calmed somewhat, but her soft growling never faltered.

"He is." I confirmed. "They thought he did this to me." I said, disgusted. "His job and reputation are on the line because of this."

Rosalie sighed, "I hate that we happened to you. You shouldn't know about us, shouldn't have gotten involved with him, but it's too late now. I can see now, you were not yourself back then and it's too late to leave you oblivious now."

"I don't hate it."

Rosalie looked up.

"You guys have shown me how much of the world is undiscovered, unexplored and gone undetected. I feel like I've found a fraction of Narnia." I smiled. "In the future, I hope to travel and learn more about these curiosities." I began to glow with excitement. I had wanted to do that all my life, but the world was so big, my options so limited and my life expectancy too low. Vampirism could be my liberator, but I felt no need to tell Rosalie that right now.

"You have a bright view of the supernatural." I could swear I felt Rosalie's lips curl into a smile against my hair. "I understand. There is much to be learned and I have not seen much even as I've travelled, but there are darker sides, darker things in our world that humans can live without. You have only just breezed past the surface." I knew she was talking about my injury, but I didn't flinch.

"Does it really hurt?" Rosalie tensed up against me.

"Yeah. They wanted to give me medication, but I'm allergic and too young for the other stuff." I admitted.

Rosalie held on tighter and placed her chin on my shoulder.

How can she stand it?

"You said it's too late to leave me oblivious. When I break up with him, are you going to leave me?" sadness crept into my voice. I don't know why I felt so comfortable speaking with Rosalie. Maybe it had been my former persona that feared the blonde, feared her judgement. She's not the same to me either. I don't feel as if she would judge me anymore. I don't know, but it was probably the body that looked for comfort against mine.

"No." My heart lifted. "We can't. You know too much and you're part of our family, no matter how much I expressed my… disapproval." And it dropped.

"I thought we were friends now." I started examining my sling.

After a moment I could feel her frown against the side of my face. "You would want that?" she asked quietly.

"Yes. You are very honest with me and even though you express your disapproval, you care about me. Maybe you didn't before, but you wouldn't have gone so far as to warn me if you didn't care. You wouldn't be _here_ if you didn't care." We sat silently again. "I care about you too."

Rosalie stopped growling and sat sill as stone. "You shouldn't."

I had gotten pretty comfortable in the position we had moved to. Rosalie's body was getting warmer from contact with my own body heat, she was feeling more human. Maybe if Edward had let himself touch me for more than a few seconds or stood in the sun longer than a minute, he would have stopped worrying about making me cold. Minutes passed and I started drifting off to sleep. I lost consciousness just about the moment I whispered, "But I do."

I woke up alone hours later hoping Rosalie hadn't brought Edward back just yet.

* * *

**Remember, Bella-Rose time is more important than murder right now. I love how I have people demanding murder by their sister. It's like how George R.R Martin has people cheering as a boy dies a slow painful death in front of his mother's eyes. Dispicable.**

**I'm gonna try explaining mates in the coming chapters and hopefully more fandomish stuff.**

**Sorry, I didn't plan to have all this stuff coming up. I should have prepared for it. Next time I guess.**


	14. Chapter 14

**If you don't understand something or seriously want something changed or added, PM me or review.**

* * *

The next morning, Bella persuaded Charlie to let her go to school even though she was still severely shaken up.

He had to report at the station to account for the claims of child abuse pending on him and Bella wanted him to be able to deal with it as soon as possible, lest anyone believe the claims. After he files the paperwork he will be having a word with Edward's 'parents', and Bella was pretty sure she saw a speech he prepared on the table as they left for school.

By her going to school, she could also fend off the false claims so it was a win-win, except for the fact that Bella was still slightly traumatised from her encounter with Edward.

Charlie dropped Bella off because her left arm made driving too dangerous for his liking. Charlie's protective instincts were running on an all-time high. It was decided between the two that they would only tell Renee when she returned home from her international baseball tour with Phil. They didn't want to cut her trip short, but both Bella and Charlie were feeling guilty as hell.

"Dad, I'll be fine. Stop looking at me as if I almost died." Bella said knowing full well she could have. She really didn't feel as bad as one would have thought. Sure her arm hurt like hell and the threat of being kidnapped and brainwashed hung over her head, but she also felt this openness that she couldn't explain. She could finally be herself with no one scrutinising her behind her back. She never cared before, but she was finally free of the drama that had been present in her life since last year, at least for one more week.

"I'm sorry. I just know this will be really hard for you. Are you sure it's not too soon?" He asked looking at the students staring at them sitting in the cruiser.

"People are starting to make their own theories and a lot of them involve you. We're already here. If I don't go, they might start believing them." She said.

They looked at each other, trying to see what the other really wanted to do. "Okay, just remember, you can call anytime." He said, releasing the breath he was holding. Bella gave him a smile. It was sweet seeing him so worried.

"Don't worry Dad. The next guy you don't approve of is as good as gone." Charlie gifted her with a small smile.

"Oh, Bells, kiddo, you're not getting another boyfriend until I am up there with Babe Ruth or am so old and decrepit I can't hold a firearm."

* * *

Bella walked over to her friends that were pretending not to stare from Tyler's van. "Hi guys."

"Hey Bella, got some fancy arm gear I see." Mike smiled, nodding at the sling then getting roughly shoved by Jessica on his right. Mike was wearing a faded T shirt with jeans and Jessica was wearing a lot of dark green.

"So what happened? D'ya fall or something?" Tyler asked from Mike's left. He was wearing a red flannel and jeans.

When Angela and Jessica called yesterday, Bella made sure to tell them the truth of her injury with a little tweaking of the seriousness and made them understand Charlie would never hurt her. She had also told them to tell the others only that it wasn't Charlie and Jessica being Jessica seriously helped squash the child abuse theories.

Bella looked around nervously at each of them. Eric was squatting on the ground with Angela sitting in the doorway of the van, all of them curious.

"I, uh… well on Sunday I was, and then, I, I kinda, we…"

Bella looked around frantically, searching the school grounds for some kind of excuse. She had planned to tell them she fell, but the truth just hung over her like a veil of suffocating cloth. The truth was all too real now and she couldn't lie about it.

But that didn't mean she had to tell the truth.

"Bella?" Angela asked, standing up.

Bella shook her head.

"Come on Bella, just tell us. You have me all curious now. You can't keep it a secret forever. You told us it wasn't your dad so it can't have been that bad." Jessica pushed.

"Hey Jess?" Angela spoke up, glancing at Bella with worry. Jessica looked at her. "Why don't we just let Bella tell us later?"

Jessica looked at Bella's concentrated expression and sighed, "Okay, okay, fine. But you do realise we will find out? Whether we want to or not." Bella knew Forks was an extremely small town and news travels fast in small towns.

It seemed like doctor-patient confidentiality was still valued here in Forks, but that may not hold for very long.

She nodded and they all moved to go to class.

Bella was thankful that her first few classes were with her friends she had seen in the morning. They fended off any questions about her arm when her classmates asked. She went along the day normally other than having to deal with the stares from the other students. This was something she was used to though. Being the only non- Hale or Cullen to associate with the elite group, merited stares in Forks.

* * *

At Basketball training, Bella was on the sidelines practising her right hand dribble, watching the team run drills.

"Hey Brownie." the captain called her apparent nickname, jogging towards Bella. She had shoulder length black hair with purple highlights and was only just taller than Bella. They were all dressed in the black and red baggy shorts and sleeveless shirts of the PE uniform.

"Hey, I heard about the arm." She pointed at Bella's cast. "Fractured mine twice." She lifted her toned bicep. "Sucks it had to happen to you though. I see some potential in you." She twirled her hair into a ponytail as she spoke.

"Thanks Niqo." Bella said slightly abashed. "I'm sorry it affects your game though."

"Psh, yeah, you should be sorry, next time, wait till after the first game." She teased. "That and now you owe me." Dominique swiped her two fingers and thumb together with a suggestive smirk. Bella could only widen her eyes before the captain jogged back onto the court, laughing.

During lunch, she bypassed the vampires and after a glance at their table, there was no sign of Edward, thankfully.

She joined her friends at in the cafeteria and Dominique slid in next to her. Her friends got a little tired with her silence on the subject of her injury and Bella just ignored their interrogations completely, much to their dissatisfaction.

Mike gave it a shot, "Okay, did you get it from falling?" she shook her head.

Tyler tried, "Running into a wall?" Not even a flinch.

Dominique stepped up to the plate, "Your favourite character in _Game of Thrones_ died again?" Bella smiled at this. She had told her about the time she had hurt her hand smashing the table in anguish last time.

Jessica spoke up from the opposite end of the table, "Basketball training?"

Eric slammed his bottle of water on the table, "Oh! I know. You went to La Push on the weekend. You got into an arm wrestle with Seth didn't you? He's a lot stronger than he looks." He rubbed his elbow dramatically.

"I know, those guys are like rocks." Bella said smiling.

The group then spent lunch talking about La Push and ended with each of them arm wrestling one another. Bella was only able to beat Angela, Jessica and Mike, although Mike looked like he may have thrown the game. He got a lot of teasing from Tyler and Eric after that.

* * *

Bella walked to art class and sat in her usual seat next to Alice.

"Hi Bella." Alice looked nervous.

Bella opened her backpack and grabbed her sketchbook. "Hi Alice. What are we doing today?"

Alice's eyes unfocused, she looked straight ahead and a few seconds later, snapped out of her vision. "We're working on our themes. He's going to tell us to work on the ideas and concepts of our final project." Her voice was unusually soft and held an edge of apprehensiveness to it.

Bella smiled at Alice. "Ali, don't sound so nervous."

Alice ignored her and asked, "Is it true, what Rosalie said? Did he do that?" she pointed to the cast under the sling.

Bella looked around to see who could hear, but everyone was already at work and participating in loud conversations. "Yes." Bella looked her in the eye. She must have seen it, but the look in her eyes says she hadn't.

"Do you not want us around anymore? We- we would never hurt you. Bella please don't leave us. You mean so much to us, please." She begged. She stopped when Bella rested her hand on her wrist.

"Alice, I'm not afraid of you. Just of him. You would never have done this, none of you." Bella attempted to placate the anxious vampire. Alice twisted their hands so that they could hold hands, but Bella filched and pulled back. They looked at each other for a moment.

"Tell me what happened, Bella. You can trust me. Please. I don't want you to feel afraid, of any of us." Alice pleaded desperately.

"I'm not afraid of you," She repeated. She turned to her sketchbook. "but not now. I want to tell you with the whole family."

Alice nodded.

"And lay off Rosalie. You guys always down her opinion because of her attitude. I think that's just her." Alice looked ashamed. "She's your sister. Act like it." Bella sounded harsh, but took her hand. It worked to wipe Alice's frown.

She walked to biology alone after art. Edward usually walked with her. He took her to all her classes, but today, when she stepped into the class, Edward's seat held none other than Rosalie Hale, blonde hair and white shirt, glaring at the students in turn. She didn't acknowledge Bella until the girl sat down and called her name.

"You don't have a partner." Rosalie said simply.

_Totally cares_ Bella thought smugly.

Rosalie looked at her questioningly, seeing Bella's sly smirk.

Bella looked at the teacher marking the role. "Are you in this class now?"

Rosalie nodded. "You would have been alone, and you are in no shape to be alone."

Bella didn't know why this worried her. Had Rosalie been through this? Did she need someone at some point and had no one? Bella didn't like that one bit.

Rosalie took a look at Bella's t shirt to find that it was blank. Bella didn't feel confident enough to wear anything that required pride so she dressed comfortably. She had on an old navy blue V-neck with baggy jeans and her second hand basketball shoes she got from Niqo.

Bella watched as Rosalie noted her attire and naturally look back out the window.

"What's happening with the others? Did they find Edward?" Bella asked casually as she pulled out her books.

Rosalie sat to her left. "They were going to our cousins in Alaska, the Denali's. We visit them every few years. Apparently they called ahead to ask if he was with them. They said he was and Carlisle updated them on what happened with you, leaving out the part that he was your boyfriend." Rosalie was impassive as she spoke. "Edward returned from a hunt and heard through their minds that he hurt you and what we thought of him and he tried to come back. Carlisle, Jasper and Alice caught him and tried to confront him about what he did and when he wouldn't hear it he ran. They're looking for him now."

Bella frowned. She was hoping Edward would listen and relieve her of his hanging threat to take her away and do god knows what. The only good thing about this is that she knows that he wouldn't kill her. He loves her. He's told her that hundreds of times before and she could only hope that his love for her would make him see reason and eventually let her go. Then again, that is the problem isn't it? Too much love?

"Rosalie what if he comes back?" The fear crept into her voice.

"He's not going to be coming back. Not for a long while." There was a slight growl to her voice as she stared ahead at the front of the class while Mr. Banner handed out spare paper.

"Can I ask you something?"

Rosalie nodded but didn't face the girl.

"Why do you care so much that he hurt me?" Bella felt the pain in her hand shaped bruise that she had barely succeeded to ignore and noted that with each pulse of her heart her pain spiked and right now it was thrumming agonisingly.

Rosalie's scowl turned into a frown. "You know why. He could have exposed us. If you didn't tell your dad Edward was drunk at the time, a break like that would seem suspicious."

"A fracture." Bella mumbled, but the blonde continued without interruption.

"He had a responsibility to you. First of all, he shouldn't have gotten you involved with us, and second, by taking that risk it is implied that he can never lose control like that."

Bella knew there was more to why Rosalie cared, but she wouldn't push her any farther than she was willing to go for now.

Mr. Banner started the lesson. "Everybody, you will be drawing a food web, biomass, energy and numbers pyramid according to the table. Remember biomass is usually measured in 'dry weight'…"

After school Bella was waiting in the car park for the Cullens to approach her.

"Bella-bear!" Emmett looked about to scoop her up. Bella internally and externally cringed.

"Emmett." Bella opened her eyes and saw Rosalie standing in front of Emmett with her hand on his chest. He looked confused. "Don't." she warned.

Jasper spoke up next to Alice. "Bella, do you want some help?" Bella stiffly nodded and he sent her waves of calm through his gift.

"Thanks Jasper."

"My pleasure." He tipped his head and smiled.

"Bella, you're not scared of us are you?" Emmett looked truly sad at the thought.

Bella shook her head and smiled. "No. I just need you guys to move around a little slower. Like, slower than humans. I feel a bit jumpy."

"Were you waiting for us?" Rosalie asked, releasing Emmett.

"Uh, yeah, I just wanted to tell you that Edward and I are over. I think it's kind of obvious, but I've actually wanted to for a while. I didn't want you to leave me." She looked at Rosalie knowing it was her that gave her the strength to tell them. "I know now, that you will understand."

"We would never leave you, Bella" Both Alice and Emmett spoke at the same time and Jasper shook his head and smiled

"Bella, you haven't felt what this family feels when they're around you." Jasper glanced at each vampire. "You complete us."

Bella's heart warmed. She wouldn't lose her vampires today. Well, the one she did want to lose would undoubtedly come back.

"Hey," Bella looked at the group, "Can I come over to your place? I told my dad, um, Charlie, I could get a friend to take me home and I kinda need to speak to you all about what happened and something Edward said."

Rosalie looked at her confusedly, wondering what Bella had left out in their talk.

She sat squished between the left door of the Jeep and Alice, as they all piled in. She was starting to feel a little claustrophobic when Rosalie offered to give her the passenger's seat.

Bella stumbled out relieved, but turned to see Alice's hurt expression. Rosalie moved around Bella to take her seat. "Alice, she needs her space." She warned, closing the door.

Bella was a little happy about the statement. It showed the blonde cared, even if she didn't know that's how it looked, but she was also concerned again. How did Rosalie know she needed space?

They arrived at the Cullen's mansion to see Esme speeding out of the forest.

They met each other at the house and Esme slowly moved to give Bella a gentle hug, avoiding her arm.

"We need to talk."

Esme nodded and they all walked in and took a seat in the living room.

* * *

Alice pulled Bella to sit next to her on the large couch in front to the TV. Esme sat on Bella's left. Jasper stood next to Alice and Emmett sat in his video game spot on the ground in front of them looking out of place witout his controller, Carlisle standing next to him.

Carlisle smiled down at her and greeted her, "Hello Bella."

"Hi Carlisle." She smiled forcefully. "Where did Edward go?"

Carlisle's smile faltered. "We don't know. He came back from seeing you, collected some belongings and left before we could ask. We were hoping he told you."

Bella frowned. "No, but that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Charlie spoke with us. He's going to press charges on Edward. I don't think he will trust us very much anymore." Esme took her hand from Alice's and pulled it to her with both hands. "Bella, tell us what happened." She pleaded.

During her recount, the vampires had felt uneasy from her opening sentence.

"On Sunday I came back from La Push." everyone shuffled a bit.

"I ate dinner with my dad for about an hour then I went to my room. He was waiting there."

Alice spoke up, "How long was he waiting there?"

Bella looked to Rosalie and said, "I think he was there before I came home. When did he leave here?"

The vampires traded looks of surprise and concern.

"That freak." Emmett muttered.

"Anyway, I told him about what I learned of the wolves in La Push and he got upset that I wasn't afraid."

"You know?" Carlisle blurted.

"Yes, she knows." Rosalie spoke from behind them. Bella hadn't even noticed she was standing right behind her. "She knows and she's not afraid. I told you they were safe, Carlisle. They made the treaty with us. We're not at war with them."

"Rose, I don't…" Carlisle started.

"Rosalie." She corrected.

He sighed and continued, "Rosalie, I don't think this is the time to talk about the issue with them."

"There is no issue!" She started walking out of the room.

"Rosalie." Esme called exasperatedly. "You haven't heard Bella's story yet. Come back."

She kept walking. "I've heard the rest."

"Rose, I…" Bella tried to tell her she hadn't heard all of it.

"Fine, I'll listen, but I'm leaving the room." She walked up the stairs.

All eyes were back on Bella as she continued.

"He wanted to protect me, but I refused." Carlisle started to interrupt when Esme gave him a look to stop. "He "Banned" me from going to the Reservation and I got angry, then he got angry, then I told him what Jacob told me about how he harasses them. He confirmed it when I asked if it was because they're Indian then I told him to get out."

"Whoa. Eddy's racist?" Emmett spoke from the floor. "Even Jasper's not racist!" He pointed to the southern vampire with wide eyes looking at the family. Esme gave him a scolding look and he dropped his arm sheepishly.

Bella looked to Jasper and he smiled, "Things like colour or size, nationality or gender does not make a greater or lesser person. It's actions that make a person and I also don't believe Edward is racist."

Carlisle nodded in agreement. "He has never shown those values before and over the years he hasn't shown any animosity based on ethnicity."

Esme turned to Bella. "I think he just wanted to get you to stop going there. It was incredibly stupid of him and I don't agree with the way he tried."

"Oh. Well, then I told him to get out, he grabbed my arm and told me I had till next Wednesday to 'come to my senses' before he will take me away to…" she drifted of, not understanding what she was going to repeat.

"To what Bella?" Alice asked.

"To 'heal me'. To 'reteach me what I think I know'." She frowned in thought.

"I don't know what that means Bella, but I don't know why I didn't see it." Alice said. "Actually, I haven't seen a vision of you in a while."

"Alice, we'll look in to that later. Right now, we have to speak to Edward. I can't believe he did this to you." Esme said.

"I'll go." Carlisle said speeding out of the room and up the stairs.

"I'm going too." Alice said.

"I'm wherever you are." Jasper said holding her hand after she stood.

Alice let go of Bella's hand and looked her in the eyes. "I'm sorry Bella, but I need to figure out what's happening. I didn't see you and you got hurt. I'm going to do whatever I can to figure this out."

"I know Alice. Thank you."

Rosalie stepped into the room then. "I'm staying here. He might return early. If he does, don't freak out if he has no arms... or head."

Carlisle flashed through the room and the three vampires set off out into the forest.

"We'll fix this." Esme said standing up. "I'll call Charlie if you're going to be staying for a while." Bella nodded although she didn't think Charlie would be all that happy about her staying at the Cullen's, but it was worth a try.

Bella listened from the kitchen and got the gist that Esme and Carlisle had explained to Charlie that they had no idea what Edward had done and that he was gone for now. That and that he wasn't happy with Bella staying at their place, but he seriously had to stay late at the station. After some persuasion from Esme, Charlie asked for Bella.

She picked up the phone from Esme's waiting hand and put it to her ear. "Yeah Dad?"

"Bella, do you really want to stay there?" his voice was low and serious. His 'work voice' was the only name for it that Bella could think of.

"Yeah dad. Carlisle's gone to find and talk to Edward and the family would never harm me. They're still like family to me dad."

"Do you feel distressed at all? Because I can come round and you can stay at the station for a while."

"Really dad, I'm fine. Please trust me when I say that I'm safe staying here for just a few hours."

He sighed. He really didn't like that idea. "Okay Bells, as long as you're sure, but only a few hours."

"Thanks dad."

"I might not trust them, but I trust you Bells and to be honest, I'd rather you not be alone right now. Just call me and I'll be there."

"Okay, bye dad."

"You're sure?"

She smiled, "I'm sure Chief Swan. I'll see you tonight." She hung up, shaking her head with a smile.

She played Call of Duty with Emmett for an hour until her head started hurting from the movement on the screen and she let Emmett play campaign. She then lay down on the couch in an attempt at taking a nap, but the pain in her arm left her restless. Why was there just no position that was comfortable?

Bella's eyes shot open when she felt the cushions dip by her feet. Rosalie had sat down facing her, but her attention on her book. Bella read the cover, '_George R.R. Martin Game of Thrones'_.

"What part are you up to?" She asked and heard Emmett put the sound down on the TV.

Rosalie looked up from her book and said, "The chapter's," She flipped back, "The horse heart."

"Oh, I like that part in the show." Bella commented.

Rosalie bookmarked her page and set it down on the chair. Her features lacked the usual scowl. "I've seen it. I like it because no one is completely good. It tells the truth of human nature."

Bella pulled her knees up, mirroring the blonde at the other end of the couch. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Like they can try to be a hero or a role model or whatever, but things don't always work that way. People get hurt; emotions get in the way of rational actions and choices. Enlightenment v Romanticism."

Rosalie was actually paying full attention to her words, but Bella was looking at the ground, thinking as she spoke her opinion. "It's like, there is always a time where we're put in a situation where there is no right choice. We are not good. Humans are not good. We consume and destroy, no matter what we _try_ to do, no matter what we think is 'right'. Human nature is not of good deeds and intentions, but of survival. Survival can only be obtained by consuming energy like the stuff we're learning in Biology, and that means death and consumption. It's what we do. What we have to do."

She looked up at Rosalie who was staring at her with a blank expression. She forgot who she was talking to. "That's what I think anyway." She said with a frown.

Rosalie focused with a blink, "No, I agree with you. We are horrible creatures." She looked down, "Well I mean humans, but vampires are too."

"Vampires are people too Rosalie."

Rosalie looked up at her and smiled a small smile. "Rose"

"Vampires are people too Rose." Bella smiled.

The vampire chuckled and Bella couldn't think of a better sound.

"Don't let the muggles get you down." Bella said happily and she received a better melody. Rosalie's laughter.

The vampire picked up her book and Emmett challenged Bella to another round of call of duty then offered to drive her home.

He and Bella were in his Jeep joking about COD tactics.

"I don't know how you did it." He muttered.

"If you melee the guy it's…"

"No, I mean that thing with Rosalie. She practically terrified you and now you got her to laugh. I was the only one that could get her to laugh - or call her Rose." He didn't sound sad.

"Oh, I'm sorry I…"

"Why are you sorry? You made her happy and that's not an easy task." He chuckled.

"I don't know. I think we're friends now." Bella said uncertainly.

"Then you struck the jackpot. Rosalie's the best friend anyone could have."

"Yeah, I can see it." Bella said fervently.

"Good, because not many people can."

* * *

**Oh, Niqo, how many writers have you so subtly manipulated with your oh so thoughtful reviews :) You asked for this, now this character has your name. No complaints. She is not you, but has the same name.**

**Yes, the PE uniform is red and black for AFL, Essendon, GO BOMBERS. Yeah, yeah, steroids, drugs, blah, blah. Don't hold it against me. I'VE BEEN INDOCTRINATED.**

**Anyway, what's up with this Niqo character? Do we have some competition here, Rosie? Maybe the catalyst?**

**Rose doesn't know Bella's her mate yet, I think a mate will just be the person the vampire chooses to devote their everything to. Kinda like imprints, but with more of a choice. Super love, hehehe, no. :/**

**I've got my practise exams coming up, but no biggie. I joined the chapters that were everywhere. sorry for that**

**Thanks for your reviews. Keep 'em comin'.**


	15. Chapter 15

**It's my birthday so I thought I'd update.**

**Gonna be switching POV's a bit. I want to try 'em and see if I like it. Have I done Rosalie yet? because there's going to be a few later on.**

* * *

"Yeah, sure. Why not?" Bella said to the captain, standing up.

"Good. Tell your dad. Tell him I'll pick you up tomorrow instead and drop you at home later. You shouldn't have to stay here, stuck on the sidelines every PE lesson." Niqo picked up her bag and walked off to her next class. "And it's football, not soccer." She called back to Bella.

"Not in America it isn't" Bella returned.

After practice Niqo had offered to teach Bella how to play football, or soccer as Bella called it. Of course, her arm wouldn't allow her to get right in to it, but at least she could learn how to play so that she could practise when her arm started to heal. So that was the plan for tomorrow after school.

Dominique was a year older than Bella, she was held back because she didn't pass English, but she was captain of the senior girls Basketball team and played Soccer too. She and Bella had become friends in the few practices they had before the incident. Bella was getting increasingly healthier as time wore on, both mentally and physically and Dominique seemed to have taken a small interest in her for it.

"Who's that?" Bella jumped and yelped as the force knocked her arm.

Shit.

"What the fu-Uuuh. Hi." She was face to face with Rosalie Hale yet again. She couldn't help but feel a little intimidated by the towering blonde who appeared next to her with absolutely no warning.

"Sorry." Rosalie glanced at her arm. "Who's she?" Rosalie reiterated, unaffected by Bella's response.

Bella ran her hand through her dark hair and took a deep breath as she overcame her initial shock. "Uh, her?" She looked in the direction her friend went, and where Rosalie was looking. "That's Niqo, basketball captain and soccer player. Or football, it's debatable."

"Oh, okay." Rosalie didn't take her eyes off the spot where Niqo turned the corner.

"Uh, did you need something?" Rosalie tore her eyes away to find an inquisitive looking Bella watching her.

"We have Biology now."

"Right." Bella picked up her bag and caught up with the vampire who had taken off to class.

Rosalie was walking pretty fast and it took a small effort for Bella to keep up, but they were late.

Rosalie looked down to Bella and asked, "Do you want me to hold that?" She pointed to her backpack.

"Nah, I'm good." She adjusted her pack.

"Okay." Rosalie shrugged and they made their way to class.

As Bella sat next to Rosalie she tried to discretely observe the elusive blonde.

Rosalie was dressed in a fitting burgundy sweater and smooth black leggings. Her heels could graze the floor from the tall lab chairs whereas Bella had to hook her feet on bar between the chair legs to keep them from dangling senselessly above the ground. Rosalie wasn't much taller than Bella, so she figured Rosalie's legs were just amazingly long, yet still proportionate to her body. She wasn't actually showing as much skin as Bella thought she would or could, being as perfect as she was.

Rosalie had the small chain she always wore around her neck that was partially covered by the collar of her blue shirt that she was wearing beneath the sweater. Bella made a mental note to ask her about it if ever she got closer to the mysterious woman. The chance of that happening seemed to be increasing every day. Once in a while Rosalie would relax around Bella when they were sitting in biology together without the company of others. It seemed that without trying, Bella was helping the blonde open up to her.

That's how it felt. When Bella tried to picture how Rosalie felt about her she imagined a hand. One of Rosalie's perfect soft, pale hands, closed into a tight fist when she was closed off like she had been since Bella had known her. Slowly that fist relaxed until it was willing to expose what was hidden inside.

It was slow and gradual, but small things she noticed about Rosalie gave her confidence in her theory. When she looked out the window, it seemed to make her relax. Bella noticed Rosalie would get slightly fidgety sometimes, looking around a room until her eyes found something to stare at intensely. She tended to look for a window or a patch of sky to focus on. Rosalie hadn't done that all lesson and Bella took that to mean she was comfortable.

Rosalie was leaning over her work in concentration. Bella remembered Edward to always look at ease when he worked, as if he'd done it all ten times prior. He probably had.

"Are you having trouble with the work?" Bella asked without thinking.

Rosalie looked up from her work and turned to Bella. She shook her head, scowling as if it was insulting, but Bella knew it wasn't personal. She just knew.

"Rosalie, it's okay to need help sometimes. I have trouble with maths all the time. Hell, I almost failed last year."

Rosalie looked at Bella for a moment. "I enjoy maths. It hasn't changed much over time."

Bella smiled. "And it's the same in every country?"

Rosalie released one of her small but breath taking smiles. "That's beautiful."

Bella beamed. "Seriously though. What's the problem?" Bella made to look at her work, but Rosalie covered it with her arm.

"I just." She sighed, "I don't know all this stuff, these species of lizard and the loop of Henle. Where do the salt and the water diffuse into and out of? How does this anti-diuretic hormone do… Shit? The last time I took biology, we didn't need to know this."

Bella was tempted to laugh, but kept it to a smile. Rosalie was getting flustered and it looked so foreign on her features. Bella could see this was not normal for her. Rosalie was showing weakness and it made her vulnerable to scrutiny, but Rosalie must have known Bella wouldn't hurt her like that. Bella was both proud and touched.

"Here, I'll show you." Rosalie allowed Bella to teach her, and at the end of the lesson offered to help her with maths. Bella was actually a very good teacher. Somehow she knew when Rosalie had gotten lost and made it so that the blonde barely ever had to ask for clarification. It seemed as though Bella could read her, but that wasn't possible.

* * *

"Hey Bells, I got us a Harry Potter marathon to watch tonight" Charlie clambered into the house later that night with his hands full of grocery bags.

"Dad, we can't watch it tonight. It's Wednesday." Bella descended the stairs and ran to help her father with the bags.

"Who cares, it's Harry Potter. What's wrong with you kiddo? You've never turned down the 'boy who lived'." He frowned, but had a smile on his face as he unloaded his haul on the kitchen table.

"I have homework." She said as she unpacked two bags of microwave popcorn, three bars of her favourite chocolate and a tub of mint chip Ice cream. He really went all out. It was going to be an awesome movie night.

"I'll write you a note. Your arm hurt too much to work and the drug the doctor gave for you to take put you right out."

"Dad, I'm allergic to -"

"What they don't know won't hurt them Bells. Now do this," He held out the popcorn, "I'm gonna grab the pillows and blankets. I'll meet you out there and we'll set it up on the projector."

The two of them could be found the next morning in a heap in the living room. Charlie was spread out on the floor and Bella was sprawled on the couch with a mess of popcorn, chocolate, melted bowls of ice cream and flat soda between them.

Charlie let out a snore and Bella whacked him in the head with the back of her hand. She felt as if just that action was dead tiring; heck staying conscious was dead tiring.

"Huh?" Charlie woke with a start and sat up. "ah, crap." He fell back down onto the pillows.

"Yes." Bella weakly threw her hand up in triumph and dropped back into the couch with a loud yawn. "You're getting old dad. Last time you could stay up through the entire 8 movies and rub it in my face as I recall." She smiled, but couldn't keep her eyes open any longer.

"Yeah, you win kid. You can go to school a couple of hours late." He huffed rubbing his face.

"Na na na na nah. Not so fast. If I remember correctly, I win, I get to call you 'Pops' Pops."

"Ugh. Whatever makes you happy kiddo." Charlie looked about ready to pass out, as did Bella and she was so close to giving in too.

"Thanks dad." This was just what she needed.

"Anything for you Bells."

* * *

Bella:

About an hour later I thought to tell someone I wasn't going to be at school until later. I found my phone under some blankets and scrolled through the contacts. Well, Alice wasn't there so it would have to be Angela whose contact name was now Anzu Mazaki, then I remembered. Rosalie had come over last time to check if I was okay. I should tell her now.

Rosalie's number was pre-programmed in my phone along with the rest of the Cullen's from when Edward forced the phone upon me.

_I'm not going to be at school until later. Just thought I should tell you. – Bella_

I didn't expect the reply I received almost instantly.

Rosalie: _Are you okay?_

Bella frowned as she read the text, but replied,

Bella:_ Yeah. Movie night with my Pops._

Rosalie: _I'll get you the bio homework_

Bella: _thanks._

That's actually really awesome. It's pretty awesome to see this side to Rosalie. Granted, I had to change practically everything about myself to see it, but this is the real me and I guess this is the real her.

I realize now, we both made unfair and ill-informed judgements. I think it's why I don't hold it against her that she practically hated me before. I was terrified of her and thought her to be a bitch in return. I think I am ready to seriously rethink that though. Let's just hope she is too

* * *

"Hey Bella!"

"Yeah Mike, what's up?" Bella didn't stop walking as she made her way to her first and last two classes of the day with her books for maths and art in her hands.

"Wait up." Mike was jogging from another building on her left.

"Can't. I'm late."

"Oh, well I'll make it fast then." Bella stopped and spun around to give him her full attention.

"Two seconds." She held up her fingers for emphasis.

"Well, there's this movie that came out. I've heard it's really good and I was kind of wondering if maybe, if it was possible to maybe…"

He was rambling so she held up her fingers again _two seconds_. She started walking again and gestured for him to follow and they started walking to her class.

"Uh, right, well I was wondering if you would like to see it." He sounded so nervous, the old Bella may have actually felt sorry for him, but this Bella really couldn't pressure herself into an uncomfortable situation like that, but she wouldn't just drop him on his ass either.

"What's the movie?" She knew this would work.

"The Perks of being a Wallflower."

"Sorry, I've read and seen it over the summer break."

"Oh, that's okay, there's also The Amazing Spider man." Mike looked more confident and Bella knew she did the right thing with not dropping him on his ass.

"Seen it. Twice."

"Oh, um, The Avengers?"

She actually had to laugh at that one. "Seen it, read it, drawn it, wore it. Maybe when more come out I'll rethink it, but were you thinking of just us?"

Mike nodded with only a slightly disappointed expression.

"Mike, not to be too cliché, but I really can't do relationships right now. I just got out of a really serious one."

Somehow word had gotten around that she and Edward had parted ways and it seemed like people were slowly connecting the dots between her injury and the break up, but without Bella's confirmation the rumours were moving at an unusually slow pace. It must have been the seriousness of the matter that kept people from asking her, even Jessica Stanley.

"No, I totally get it." He looked down.

"Hey, but I was serious about having had seen those movies." She said trying to lighten the mood.

It worked and he smiled. "Such a nerd Bella."

"The correct term is geek. I'm a geek. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow." She turned and stepped into her class with Charlie's note in her capacitated hand.

* * *

Bella waved to her friend as she crossed the parking lot. Niqo was waiting by her old navy Ford, talking to some friends. She smiled and waved Bella over as she bid her friends farewell.

"Brownie, Let's go teach you to play some ball." She patted her head and moved around the car.

"Bella." Bella turned to the familiar voice and her eyes landed on Rosalie standing about a meter away with Emmett at her side.

"Hey Rosalie, Em."

"Hey Bella." Emmett replied happily. "Rosalie wanted to pass something along."

Bella looked back to the blonde expectantly. "Here's the biology homework." Rosalie grabbed a few notes and a worksheet from her bag and handed them over.

"Thanks Rosalie. I owe you one." Bella said as she flicked through the papers.

"It's fine Bella." Rosalie gave her a polite smile then glanced at Niqo in the driver's seat waiting and walked off, dragging a compliant Emmett behind.

Bella closed the door and waited for Niqo to start driving. The captain turned the key and exclaimed, "Whoa. You just spoke to the Ice queen. You're tougher than you look brownie."

"Shut up." There was steel to her tone that caught both of them off guard.

* * *

**Anyone catch my Mean Girls quote?**

**I just figured out how they will progress. I think you guys will like it. Even _I_ had to re-read the draft just for kicks. I think I may be fangirling over my own work. How pathetic.**

**Okay, I think 2 chapters until it gets interesting. I just don't want it to be too unrealistic because, believe it or not, I haven't even written a week of the story. There will be a time skip and we'll get to the awesome stuff.**

**The Denali's _do_ have a purpose. **

**Review the fandoms. I may not have done many of the suggested ones yet, but put them in the coming chapters. Look out for them. They may not be easy to pick out anymore. It's like a treasure hunt. If you are a true fan, you would find it and put it in your review.**** Too fun.**


	16. Chapter 16

"Hello?" It was 3 in the morning, but her phone had been buzzing non-stop and the pain in her arm was leaving her restless so she finally got up to get it over with.

"Bella."

"Edward?" Then she began to focus. "Edward. What do you want?" She held the phone to her ear as she walked across the hall to wake her father up.

"Bella, I'm sorry about what I did. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. Alice communicated to me about what I did. I didn't know. I lost control. I had no idea I hurt you. I'm sorry." He sounded desperate and he should, but Bella felt no sympathy for him. Rosalie was right. He shouldn't have allowed himself to lose control like that. What was it that made him that angry anyway?

Bella whacked her father awake and he jumped up with a grunt reaching for his gun, but stopped when he saw his daughter standing by his bedside.

"Edward what are you doing? Why?" Bella said, trying to get Charlie in the loop. He seemed to be having trouble working out what was going on at that moment so she put it on speaker.

"I love you Bella. I need you, but you keep pulling away. You're changing and it's not good. Something's wrong."

He shouldn't have said that. Charlie grabbed the phone from Bella's hand and stood up to address Edward. "Listen shit head! You don't know my daughter any more than you know me. Nothing is wrong with her. She's perfect, but YOU are fucked up in the head. The next time you set foot in Forks, you'll be behind bars before you can blink. You…"

"Charlie, I'm so sorry about what happened, but you have to understand that Bella…"

"Don't call me Charlie, don't interrupt me, don't act like you know Bella and do NOT come near her ever again. Do you hear me Fuckward?!"

There was a long pause on the line as they waited for Edward's response.

"I'm sorry you feel that way." It was monotone and left more questions than answers as the line clicked dead.

Charlie fell back on the bed and Bella sat down next to him. Charlie was seething, but willing himself to calm down.

"I'm sorry Bells."

"Why are _you _sorry?"

"I shouldn't have let my anger get in the way. I should have gotten a location out of him. We don't know what he's going to do now."

"Dad it's alright. He wouldn't have told you anyway." She lay down next to him and he gently propped her arm up on a pillow.

"Will you be okay Bells?"

They stared up to the ceiling as they slowly drifted off to sleep.

"I'll be fine Pops. You will be too."

* * *

The classroom smelled of cleaning chemicals and teenage body odour. The class was working on drawing food webs concerning bioaccumulation from a table of animals. Rosalie was wearing a fitting flannel. It wasn't tight but it wasn't loose. Bella wore a black hoodie with the anti-possession symbol.

"Rose?"

"Yes?"

"Edward called last night."

"What?" she looked up from her work. "What did he say?"

"Not much." Bella put her pencil on the table. "He said he was sorry for hurting me, that he didn't realise he fractured my arm. I woke up my dad and he ranted at Edward. He said, 'I'm sorry you feel that way' and hung up."

Rosalie reached over Bella and she thought she was reaching for a pencil so she leaned back, but then Rosalie placed her hand over Bella's. "Bella, will you ever be ready to see him?"

Bella looked into her slowly darkening eyes and nodded. "Can we wait till my arm is healed? I don't want to feel weaker than I already am."

"Are we okay here girls?" Mr Banner asked, walking to their bench. Rosalie released the girl.

"Yeah, Rosalie was just asking if I wanted to go to the nurse. I'm fine though."

"Okay, get back to work." He walked away.

"You're not weak." Rosalie said and she focused back on her food web.

* * *

Rosalie:

After class Bella told me to go to lunch without her. That she had to speak with Niqo about something.

From the biology classroom I walk to the closest entrance to the cafeteria and trek along the back wall to the doors.

Fuck, I can smell them when they're coming.

"Rose, can I speak to you for a second?"

"No."

"Just a second. Surely Rosalie Cullen can spare a second." He steps in front of me and blocks my path to the cafeteria. His hair is dark and slightly curled to make a fringe. He's stocky in stature and cocky on nature. Jimmy Sawyer.

"Jimmy, I won't go out with you, let me pass." I glare at him when he ignores my request.

"Why are you such a bitch Rosalie? What makes you think I was going to ask you out?" He steps into my personal space and I step back.

"Because you won't stop. It's not cute or romantic. It's harassment. Step away from me." I push him back by his chest, careful not to hurt him, but he steps back in.

"Oh get over yourself Rosalie, you may be hot, but that's all you are. You're a hot bitch that's so fucking full of herself she thinks anyone who talks to her is…"

He's forcefully yanked away from me.

"Fuck off Jimmy. You don't know shit about who she is. Why don't you go sulk in the corner about your pathetic rejection?" Bella says shoving him away by the shoulder she had in her right hand.

"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it?" He looks at her sling, "Get your boyfriend to break _my_ arm?" He takes a threatening step towards Bella, but stops when he feels the massive hand on his right arm.

"No, but I will." Emmett pushes the kid toward the door to the cafeteria. Jimmy stumbles but walks away, still trying to preserve some dignity. "Don't harass my sisters again."

"Are you alright Rosalie?" I look up from the wall I slid down against and Bella is kneeling next to me with a worried expression.

"I'm fine." I push myself up, but she places a hand on my shoulder so I stay put.

"You don't have to go in there just yet if you don't want to." She says softly and I nod.

Emmett's eying me so I wave my assurance, "I'm fine, go."

"I'll come back. I just need to do some damage control." he says scuttling after Jimmy.

I could hear the commotion in the cafeteria; Jimmy's friends were getting the teachers involved much to his mortification.

Bella plops down next to me against the wall where we are facing the back of the school, looking toward the open field and forest. I glance at her as she grabs her sandwich out of her bag and starts eating. It smells like Nutella.

We sit in silence until she asks, "What's your favourite colour?" Huh?

"Uh, it's orange. Why?" She turns her body towards me and I copy her action.

"Just orange?" She's slouched over, sandwich in hand, curious eyes on me.

"What do you mean? That's my absolute favourite colour. You asked…"

"No, I mean what kind of orange?"

I look at her blankly and she extended, "There must be an orange you like in particular. There are tonnes of oranges; your favourite could be any of them. We were learning in art, there's Atomic tangerine, like chalk-y, Bitter sweet orange is like more pinkish, amber orange is like, well, amber. What's your favourite colour?"

I sit back against the wall, close my eyes and visualise my view from the Willow that grows on the mountain that covers Forks. "Um, I guess it would be like a sunset orange.

She looks at me with wide eyes and swallows. "You mean like Peeta in Catching Fire?"

I open my eyes and look at her with a small smile as I realise it is. "Yeah, I guess so. The soft orange that falls from the sun just before it's hidden by the Earth. It makes everything glow. It's like a burning ember before the flame dies; the end of the day."

"That's deep." I open my eyes and chuckle.

"Bella, swallow your food."

She smiles and gulps it down.

"What's yours?" I ask looking at the trees.

"Um, I guess it would be like a sky blue, but darker, more like the sky when the sun is about to rise. It's dark, but light at the same time." She takes another bite of her sandwich.

"I guess we're both deep." I shrug.

"Weird both our colours are of the sky. All we get here is grey." We look up to the ever present storm clouds of Forks.

"Grey can be deep. There are different shades of grey." I input.

"So that's why they called it that. Smart."

"I'm smart. What are we talking about?" Emmett asks as he strides over and sits in front of us.

"Fifty Shades of Grey." Bella says and she goes in for another bite.

I had to laugh quietly when Emmett's face dropped and he stammered, "Oh, oh, well I- I'll just walk over there. Hey uh, Niqo." The girl at the goal at the far end of the field stares in shock as Emmett bounds toward the poor kid and brakes into conversation. "Yeah, Niqo. Come talk to me for a minute." I block it out and focus on what is around me.

I'm not entirely comfortable with how my magnified senses make everyone else so disadvantaged, that and some things are just best left unheard. It's why I never speak at the speed I can when I'm around Bella, and I've learned to channel my abilities in a way that I'm comfortable with. It's not always easy. I can only relate it to, in my human life, trying to ignore the sound of someone's voice when they're speaking to you in the middle of a party, and trying to focus on the lyrics of the song that's playing.

I focus on what I should be able to hear. I focus on the whistle of the wind, the miscellaneous teenage chatter around us and the crunch announcing Bella finished her sandwich.

"Come on, let's go somewhere." Bella stands up and dusts her hand on her shirt, then offers it to me.

I take it and pull myself up. "Where is there to go?"

"Let's go spy on Emmett." She lets go of my hand and starts to walk the edge of the field.

"Bella I don't need to-"

"Rosalie, that takes away the fun. I could also ask Niqo what they said, but that's just boring. Come on."

We are several meters away from the goal where Emmett is in conversation with Niqo, Bella's friend. I start walking closer when I feel a soft hand on my shoulder. I look down at her and she takes her hand back to put her finger on her lips.

She walks me over to the forest and we move several meters in until we are directly behind the goal, but hidden in foliage as the goal is right on the edge of the forest. I feel a warm hand slip around my arm and Bella pulls me down into a crouch to listen.

"… good at sports. Our brother told us she was pretty accident prone. I have to say though; I haven't had to catch her falling in a while." Emmett says.

Niqo looks up at the large man. "She's a fast learner and she has some skill. If there were enough people who tried out that we had to cut some, she definitely wouldn't be one of them."

I glance at Bella on my left, she doesn't look at me, but I could see the faint blush creeping up on her cheeks. I know Bella had started playing basketball and was sort of learning how to play soccer, but I never thought she was any good.

"She's really that good?" Emmett unknowingly voices my thoughts.

"Not yet, but I can see she could be." Niqo says nodding. "At the very least we could actually win a few games this year, when her arm heals."

"Well, look at that, little Bella-Bear's not just a gorgeous geek." Emmett said proudly.

"She is a looker isn't she?" Niqo said absentmindedly as she started juggling the football.

"You- uh, You like her?" Emmett said tactfully.

"Sure she's awesome. Very cool about everything, like something could be bothering you and she won't pester you. She just makes you feel better or gets your mind off things, makes her easy to be around." Niqo says, getting a couple juggles.

"Yeah, earlier today, my friend got a kind of bothered by something, it brought up some bad memories and Bella could see she was hurting and didn't want to talk about it so Bella just made her laugh. That takes some skill. It took me years."

Niqo nodded thoughtfully and passed Emmett the ball.

Say that to my face you limp noodle! How dare you speak about me behind my back, you oversized buffoon. Sure, it wasn't direct, but come on. Freaking traitor!

I'm pulled out of my mental rant when Bella gives me a reassuring squeeze of my hand. I hadn't noticed that we were still linked. Her hand had slid down from my arm into my hand.

She shakes her head with a frown and then looks at Emmett. I can't believe I'm doing this, spying on my brother. I'm 73 years old.

"Hey, wait no. You didn't answer my question. I meant do you _like_ like her?" Emmett persists.

Niqo stopped the ball to think. How hard is it to answer that, it's a yes or no. "I think so, but I'm not going to act on it. She seems happy the way she is now that she ditched your brother. No offence."

"Edward. Yeah no, Bella's in a better place." He looked up to the sky. "It's pretty cool you're willing to let her be happy that way." He passed the ball back.

"Well, usually I would move in pretty fast on someone like her, but there's someone else who's been trying for a while. I thought I'd see where that goes."

I noticed Bella's hand was sitting limp in my own and I gave it an easy squeeze to check on her. She yanks her eyes away from the two and looks at our hands. She gently extricates herself from my grasp and stands up.

Emmett and Niqo had walked toward the school now that the bell rang. I push myself up and dust my hands off.

"Bella, what's wrong?" We start walking to the school.

She shakes her head looking at the ground. "Niqo likes me. Like that."

"She said she wouldn't pursue you. I don't understand the problem."

"I'm not against it, I just never thought about that kind of relationship for me." She frowned in thought.

We got to my locker where I grabbed my books for calculus. "Don't you need to get your stuff?"

"Nah, I have PE. I'm not really required to go for the next few weeks since I can't train. I can walk you to class."

I lock my locker and we start off to class.

"Why are you thinking so hard about it?"

She adjusts her bag on her shoulder. "I'm trying to see if I feel that way for her too."

"And?"

"She's older, beautiful, athletic, kind. She could be considered exotic I guess."

I raise an eyebrow.

"Well yeah, she's from England, but she's Malaysian so that should count for something." Bella shrugs then winced at the pain.

"So what's the verdict?" I ask. We are getting close to my class now.

"I don't think so. I don't have that connection with her that I would need if I were to do anything."

"Did you have that connection with Edward?"

Bella shook her head slowly. "I thought I did. I felt like he was the most important thing and that he needed me, which he did, but he didn't need me as an equal partner. We didn't have _that_ connection."

I nod and step into my class, leaving Bella outside. "Bye Rose." She said faintly.

* * *

**Bella:**

"Bella, we need to talk about something." Rosalie said as she opened the door on my side of her black BMW. She offered to take me home after I told her about Edward's call.

"Yeah sure, come in." I said swinging the keys.

We walked into my room and sat on the bed. I was cross legged and Rosalie sat on the edge, looking at the artwork around my room.

"You've got quite the collection here." She said. "Did you draw these?" She walked over to the wall and turned to me, eyebrow raised perfectly. "Cyborg?"

"Yes. And oh, check that out." I pointed to the opposite wall. "That's my marvel wall. You're looking at my DC comics sector."

"Impressive."

"Thanks." Crap, I blushed. "What- What did you want to talk to me about?"

She pulled her golden eyes away from my art and looked out the window as she spoke, "Right. Bella, how- how do you feel about becoming a vampire? Becoming one of us?" She sounded slightly hesitant, but just looking at her you never would have guessed, standing tall and detached.

"What?" She didn't just ask that.

"You know that you aren't meant to know about us living as a human. I know you wanted to be a vampire loving Edward as much as you claimed, but how about now? What do you think about it now?"

"Are you going to force me to become a vampire?" I asked timidly.

"Not if you don't want to. I just need to know."

"Right um, well, I think I need more time to answer your question honestly. I think I do, but it's a pretty big decision, don't you think?"

Rosalie nodded. "Are you hungry?"

Whoa, whiplash. "Yeah, can you cook?"

I followed her down the stairs. "No, but I'd like to make pancakes. It looks fun."

Oh, pancakes after school? Well, at least she can't get it wrong.

"It is. Come on, I'll teach you." I grabbed her hand and pulled her to the kitchen.

* * *

a few hours later:

"Mmm. I smell pancakes." Jake's voice came from the front door and he stepped into the kitchen with his eyes closed as he took a deep breath. "I want mine with bacon. Mmm, yeah, bacon pancakes."

"That's original Jake." I commented from the stove.

He opened his eyes. "Oh, hi Bells. Hi Blondie." He looked quizzically at me, but I shook my head, no. He walked over to the counter and pulled out a plate and utensils. "You know what, forget the bacon, I'll just have these." He abandoned his pickings and took the plate piled high with artfully made pancakes. We kind of went overboard when we started making things like wands and swords, lightsabers and pokeballs. They were abysmally crafted.

"Don't mind me. Just go back to making me horribly constructed pancake art. I want a wolf and a vampire next." Jake was already digging into the pile.

Rosalie and I exchanged a look and got to work.

Two hours later…

"Now this, is a vampire-wolf." Jake bellowed as we placed the plate in front of him. Man he could eat a lot. "A vampolf? A warepire?"

Rosalie was in charge of making vampires for obvious reasons, but could only get the face with the fangs, not the body. I couldn't get a wolf's head right so we combined our efforts and created a creature of our own.

"Damn straight it is fat-ass." I flicked him on the nose and he and Rosalie laughed. I just couldn't stop trying to make her laugh. Every time, felt like an achievement.

"I only know one fat-ass. Is Jake here?" Charlie, in his uniform, strode into the kitchen to find the disaster that was now the kitchen. A couple of Rosalie's first attempts at flipping were still stuck to the wall and ceiling, and batter was smeared on pretty much every flat surface. "Damn Bells."

"We'll clean it up Chief Swan." Rosalie offered, a smile still playing on her lips.

"Well," he took another look at the kitchen and sighed. "Guess I'll order pizza. How was school Bella?"

"It was good."

"Good." He shook his head and walked out of the room and Jake and I burst out laughing and Rosalie smiled amusedly.

I was wiping down the bench of pancake residue. Rosalie was scraping her attempts off the wall and Jake insisted on using a spatula taped to the end of a broomstick to peel off what was hanging off the ceiling. He was aiming to drop it into the trash can he placed underneath. I bet him five bucks he couldn't get one in.

"Bella do you need a lift to the reservation on Friday?" Jake asked missing the bin. "Sue was going to pick your dad up from the station. Or I guess Rosalie could take you. She lives closer."

Rosalie came to help me wipe down the bench.

"Jake, is that such a great idea?" Had he forgotten about the treaty?

"She didn't tell you?" Jake asked, missing his target once again.

I looked up from my mess.

"I didn't know you were coming to the bon fire. I can drive you, or run you there, but I think driving would be best." Rosalie said, finishing the bench.

"Go on, tell her why I'm not trying to kill you. Just keep your eyes here. You can't miss me winning 5 bucks."

* * *

Rosalie told Bella about her meeting with the wolves and the Denalis'. She didn't tell her that they wanted to kill her or change her, but toned the truth down a bit, saying they were concerned about Bella being a human. She told Bella about how she met Sam and about Quil. The only things she skipped completely were those parts about her, the part where she would occasionally eat humans and when she confessed her promise to protect her to Tanya.

Bella never interrupted and Rosalie's tale ended with a splat and a whoop from Jacob. Bella reluctantly, almost unwillingly handed over the money and he bid his farewell until the bonfire.

Bella almost closed the door when Jacob shouted to her, "By the way, another of the pack imprinted." Before Bella could respond, Jacob ran into the woods.

"Can we talk about the whole 'Quil thing' a little longer?" Bella asked Rosalie rather hesitantly.

"Your pizza will be arriving now. I don't really want to eat anything for show tonight." Rosalie cringed at the thought.

"We'll tell my dad you ate too many pancakes." Bella suggested. "Please?"

"Okay. We can talk."

Bella was surprised at the fast agreement. Usually Rosalie needed some persuasion or time to think before she did things like what Bella was asking of her, things that friends do.

They spoke until 1 in the morning when Charlie told Rosalie she had to let Bella rest. They spoke of the Quillettes, some books and movies that they both enjoyed and some adventures that Bella yearned to try and a couple that Rosalie had already experienced. Bella wanted to talk to her about being a vampire because she was genuinely curious, but she didn't want her to think she wanted to be turned any time soon and she didn't want their time together to be cut short by emotional turmoil. Rosalie had just opened up to her more than she ever had and it felt amazing for her to know she could do that.

Thursday was a blur and Friday came as quick as a freight train. Bella had been looking forward to the bonfire all week. It was one of the very few things that kept her hidden anxiety from spiking during the week.

At the bonfire she was going to meet Jacob's imprint, her dad's new love interest and Rosalie's old friend. It seemed like everything was leading up to this day.

* * *

**Haha! No one got the reference? Actually there were a few, but this one was so perfect cuz Jake said it and everything. I didn't even plan for it. Ugh, it probably went unnoticed. (Season 3 episode 3.) I'll post the answer next chapter.**

**I thought it would be cruel to keep going like this so next chapter's the long awaited bonfire. Hard to write, but fun to read. Also an update on what's happening with Edward and the others.**

**Still not sure if you want long chapters or not. I can't help but sometimes drag on for like 7 pages, but I can try to shorten them a bit. I know that sometimes I like to read short chapters with a lot of stuff, but sometimes savour it in a long one. The chapters are and will be ranging from 3-9 pages. This chapter was like 11 pages. So tell me your thoughts because one of them is going to speed up the story next.**


	17. Bonfire

**I might come back to change some of this. Review if anything in particular stands out to you. Please don't be too harsh. I will try to please, but writing is hard work on top of everything else. Be ****merciful.**

* * *

Jasper:

The air and trees are a blur rushing past us. Edward's sent is getting fresher the farther North we move.

I feel a hand slip into my own and I squeeze her hand comfortingly. Looking down at her worry creased face I send her some happier emotions and she smiles at me. As soon as I saw Alice's smile for the first time, it became my purpose in this lengthy existence.

"Jazz, I don't understand."

"I don't understand what's happening either darling. I didn't think Edward would have been able to leave Bella injured like that."

Mates are a complicated thing, just as love should be. When I met Alice it was love at first sight, Alice knew from her vision, but we just fell into each other's arms, whereas Emmett for instance hadn't felt the pull immediately.

It seems there is no exact formula. It can be different for everyone. At first they don't have to love each other. Emmett was two years into this family when we went to visit Denali in Alaska. He met Kate and I felt no love for her from him, just his usual childlike happiness and excitement at having more family.

They started bonding when Kate pulled the first prank. She literally shocked him out of the swimming pool using her gift. After that, it was an all-out brawl.

They were at each other to no end. When we finally left, Emmett asked me to delve into his emotions to figure out what he felt and what was causing it. I couldn't do it. I could only feel how lonely and incomplete he felt, but I couldn't know the cause. Eventually we went back to the Denali's and as soon as he saw Kate, that feeling was gone. He had found his mate.

Emmett tried to court her, but she pushed him away. When I accidently felt the backlash of her emotions, I felt how claustrophobic she felt and ashamed and a little scared. I voiced my findings to Emmett when we left and he just felt miserable. He wouldn't speak to me about it anymore. I felt terrible for hurting him like that so I told Rosalie, knowing she could always make him feel better. The next time, they visited, and Emmett told Kate that he wouldn't push her, he wouldn't ask for any more than she was willing to give, just that to have any of her was all he longed for, for her to acknowledge any feelings she may have for him. It turns out that Kate had felt something for my lovable brother, but had been ashamed of her promiscuous past as a succubus of sorts and believed her to be unworthy of love. They got past that eventually, and Emmett left Kate with the space that she needed, significantly more pleased now that he knew it wasn't a completely one sided relationship.

They kept to their separate covens and it didn't put too much of a strain on their relationship like it may have with me and Alice. No, they liked it this way, and every few years, they would go and take a 2 or 3 year long trip together.

Carlisle slowed down to a human run. "Alice, has he moved?"

Alice released my hand and moved closer to Carlisle. "I can't tell where he is. All I see are trees. They're not red woods. They look like oak trees or maple trees, but that could be anywhere. I don't like that he's not making decisions right now. He's acting more on instinct than anything. It makes the prick unpredictable. "

"Alice, he's your brother." Carlisle scolded.

"She's just frustrated Carlisle. Alice still can't see Bella. " I informed and Alice frowned.

* * *

_Edward carefully placed the phone back on the receiver, hanging up on his girlfriend's father, his mate's father._

_He took a look around and shrugged his raincoat on tighter. He stepped away from the payphone and without the hindrance of human witnesses, took off towards a large white one storey building in the middle of a small town._

* * *

"He's going to a church, Carlisle. It was a small-ish place by the looks of it, but it wasn't clear. He only half made the decision to go there." Alice announced, snapping out of her vision.

Carlisle stepped closer to Alice and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Did you see what church?"

I started to rain again. I passed Alice my jacket as she spoke. "I only caught a glimpse of the sign, but I think it said "St Theresa"."

"It could be St Theresa Roman Catholic Church in Wakaw, Saskatchewan." Carlisle said in thought.

"You think he's in Canada?" Jasper asked. Edward was causing a lot of stress for everyone. Alice was constantly on edge with worry for her friend. Carlisle was sort of all over the place. He was a mix of worry, confusion and consternation. It was the most he's ever felt come from the man. Even what he felt for Esme didn't rival his swirling emotions for his first born. It worried Jasper at first, but he knew all mating bonds were different and maybe this was theirs.

Alice's eyes glazed over again and immediately, Jasper pulled Carlisle's hand off her shoulder and stepped between the two to let her see the vision in peace. She focused very soon after. "Yes you were right Carlisle, but if we all go, he will run. He's not in control right now. He's not yet biting humans, but he won't react well if we gang up on him. I can't see where he runs to. It's not a decision he'll make."

"I'll go by myself." Carlisle said, running his soaking blonde hair over his head and out of his face.

"Will he run if Carlisle goes alone?" Jasper asked. Alice shook her head and inadvertently shook most of the water from her inky hair. Jasper couldn't help himself. He stepped behind Alice and placed a kiss on her hair while pulling her to him by her waist. "I'll go. You should be with Bella Alice, and maybe Jasper can help Bella after what happened. I can talk to Edward." Carlisle announced. Jasper was about to say something. That he can help with Edward, but Alice nodded. "Yes. It could work, but you need to be careful. Edward has his own beliefs. Just remember that not everyone will agree with them." Alice warned.

"Tell the others. I'll see you in a while." Carlisle smiled at his children and wrapped the two of them in a stony embrace.

"Be safe." Jasper said and then Carlisle was gone. Alice and Jasper began their trek back to Washington.

* * *

Rosalie:

I called Bella to tell her that Jasper and Alice were coming home and that Carlisle is going to keep looking for Edward, but she told me Alice had already called.

When I picked Bella up, she was wearing shorts and a Green Lantern muscle Tee. Her cast was gone, but the sling was still supporting her arm. It was the most skin I've seen her show, so I stared. Yes, I stared at her legs. They weren't as pale as mine, but might be just as smooth. She had to cough awkwardly to bring my eyes to hers and I just walked to the car, expecting her to follow.

That's where we were now, in my black BMW on the drive to the Reservation. "Bella, last night I forgot to mention something when we spoke about the wolves."

"You forgot, or skilfully dodged?" Bella teased, easing back into my leather car seat.

"I think you know me too well Bella. You're too observant." It kind of put me on edge. She had noticed things about me that no one had before. She knew what made me too agitated. It was quite unnerving. Had she really been able to even touch my wall, let alone make a dent?

"I don't know. I think I just get you sometimes. You're hard to read, but sometimes I just get these feelings… and I know what to do." She said softly. I put up my walls again and she must have known I was uncomfortable because she smiled and said, "Anyway, what was it that you 'forgot' to mention?" I relaxed somewhat.

"Do you remember me mentioning our cousins?" She nodded. "Well, they're here, at the reservation." Her eyes widened, but she didn't interrupt me. "They made a treaty with the Quillettes. They are allowed on their land and they might speak to you about some things. Things you may not feel absolutely comfortable with."

"Like what?" I hesitated in answering, "Oh, Edward said they were succubi right? Like on Lost Girl? Would they try to seduce me or something?" the spontaneous thought widening her eyes a second later.

I laughed at her questioning. "Yes, Edward was almost right. They created the myths and legends of the succubus hundreds of years ago." Bella had a sharp intake of breath at the number. "As for the Lost Girl reference, I've only seen a few, but the Denali sisters are not descended from Fae and they don't suck the chi from their victims, they drink their blood." Bella nodded in understanding. "They stopped drinking human blood soon after they met Carlisle, so only about 200 years ago."

"Oh, yeah, only two hundred." She scoffed.

"They still enjoy their sexual conquests though. Well those who aren't mated. Actually there's only Tanya left…" It was actually quite sad. The oldest of the sisters was the only one left alone.

"She's been alone for hundreds of years?" Bella asked sadly.

"Over a thousand." I replied.

"That's so sad."

"Yes it is. But she really is one of the kindest and wonderful of the women I know, and when she finds her mate, he or she couldn't be worthy, no matter what they did." I answered honestly.

"That's sweet Rose. You should tell her that. Whoa, hey, she?" Bella turned her whole body to face me. "I thought mating could only be between a male and female."

I frowned, "What makes you think that?"

"Oh, well, I thought it was just obvious. The word 'mating' is usually used relevant to the sexual aspect of reproducing in Biology, and that can generally only happen between a male and female… Generally."

"But we can't have children, Bella, so what's the difference?" I said a little harsher than I meant to. "Love is love isn't it?"

Bella looked at me concernedly for a split second before she carried on, "Yeah it is. So does that mean you have to fall in love with your mate? Or is it like imprinting, where it's all supernatural and shiznit?"

"Since when do you have a verbal filter?" I chuckled and she smiled sheepishly. she didn't swear that much, but it was more than she was used to. "No, it seems like a mate is someone vampires fall completely and utterly in love with. The special part is that they tend to stay together. It has been thought of as a soul mate thing, but Jasper told me it's more like love with a supernatural twist. He dealt with many young vampires before he came to us. Some of them found their mates. It was different for each one. For some it was the 'Love at first sight' thing, for others it was just an attraction. They all ended in love though. They were all perfect for each other and stayed together to the end… in one way or another. Sometimes distance doesn't mean distance."

"Whoa." She breathed. Bella studied her hands as she processed the new information, then she snapped back into focus. "Hey, so is Tanya going to seduce me or not?" She tried to get back on track.

I smiled at her brashness. "Most likely. You are very beautiful Bella." She blushed hard. "She may speak to you about being a vampire though."

"What?!"

"I told them I would protect you if you don't want to be changed, and I don't think they will push the topic too far anymore, but can I ask that you just pretend you want to be turned, years into the future? And call me if it looks like they're going to bite you?"

She audibly gulped. "And if Tanya looks like she's going to bite me?"

I laughed, "I'll protect you Bella." I took her hand, my right hand still on the wheel. She gasped, but that was to be expected. I held her until she spoke up.

"Rosalie, are you going to let go?"

"We're almost there, Bella. If you smell like me, Tanya might not bother you too much." I answered.

"Oh. Thanks. You smell nice." She tried to discretely take a deep breath and I had to smile at her failed attempt.

* * *

Rosalie still hadn't released my hand as we walked down the beach to the bon fire. She was sort of protective of me now. It was weird, but kind of amazing. I'd never seen Rosalie give so much attention to anyone except Emmett. It made me feel… special I guess. I shouldn't let it get to my head though.

As we got closer to the bonfire Rosalie dropped my hand. I looked at her and she was looking at something across the blazing flames of the large bonfire.

"Bella, can I introduce you to three of our cousins?" She actually looked worried as she stared past the fire.

I nodded, I knew she'd see it. I wanted to squeeze her hand in reassurance that I wasn't afraid. I knew she would protect me, and the wolves were here too. I guess I just got used to holding her hand, something I'd never thought I'd think about Rosalie Hale.

We walked around the masses to the other side of the fire and were greeted by three of the most beautiful goddesses I'd seen. None of them topped Rosalie obviously, but I never thought so much beauty could fit in such a small area, let alone be here, right next to me and in front of my eyes. I almost felt unworthy. Hell, I always feel that way around Rosalie.

The woman on the left was the shortest. She had curly blonde hair flowing over her shoulders and was wearing an oversized green flannel. The tallest, middle vampire wore a perfectly fitting brown, leather jacket. Her hair was much longer than her sister's. The last woman was not standing with her sisters, but sitting further back, on a bench. She wore a dark green button up and had straight perfect blonde hair that spun out as she turned to wave at us and spun back.

"You must be 'Isabella, but she prefers Bella'." The shorter one with the oversized flannel walked up to me with a smile and held out her hand. I reached to take it but Rosalie softly pushed my arm down. "Aww, Rosalie. I was only being polite." She whined.

I took a closer look at her hand and noted the small sparks jumping between her fingers and I pulled my hand back immediately.

Rosalie started the introductions as she put her hand on my shoulder to get my attention, "This dangerous one is Kate." Kate smiled a devilish smile, "That one over there who has no time for us," She pointed to the one on the log that was talking to someone I couldn't see, "is Irina, and this is Tanya Denali, coven leader of the Denali's." The tallest woman with a kind smile leaned down to take my hand. She brought it up and addressed me in a sultry Russian accent, "It's a pleasure to meet you Isabella" she brought my hand to her lips. Just before I touched her lips, she glanced at Rosalie, smelling her scent. She kissed my hand softly and when she released me I shuffled closer to Rosalie.

"It's nice to meet you too." I said to the vampires.

"Bella." I looked into the crowd for the familiar voice and my eyes landed on Leah. I looked to Rosalie and she nodded that I could leave her.

"Hi Leah." I sat down next to my friend. "Hello Irina."

"Good evening Bella." Irina waved across Leah. Her hand went back to Leah's and I'm pretty sure my eyes bugged out of my head.

"Oh my god, Leah!"

She smiled brightly and nodded. She had finally imprinted.

I squealed so loud, people started staring at us. Fangirling much.

"What's got you losing your marbles Brownie?" Niqo? "Hi Leah." Niqo slid in next to me and put her arm around my shoulders being sure not to hurt my arm. I had just gotten it out of the cast. Her hair was out today, and she was wearing a dark grey hoodie that must have been from her school in England or the United Kingdom or whatever.

"Hi Niqo. Didn't know you would be here." I said.

"You too. Jacob invited me. Do you know him?"

"Yeah, he's my best friend, been my best friend for ages, sort of" I informed her.

"You're his best friend? The one who he wouldn't tell me about?" Huh?

"You're the girl?" I frowned in confusion and then it hit me and my eyes widened, "You're his…"

"Bella!" Jake ran around the blaze and came to a stop in front of us. "I see you met Niqo."

"Yeah, we kind of know each other. She's my friend."

His smile brightened impossibly more. "That's awesome."

He sat down to face us and they told me about how they met. Niqo goes for a run on the La Push beach every Sunday and sometime during the summer, Jacob joined her. They became close and Jacob told her the secret of the wolves. She knows she's his imprint, but doesn't want anything serious too young. So they're just really close friends for now.

"Hey Bella look at that." Leah tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to a group of people a few logs away. My dad and her mom were talking to Billy and some of the Elders; dad had his arm around Sue's waist.

"We're totally going to be sisters." I murmured and opened my hand on my lap where Leah slapped it.

"You're going to be sisters?" Irina asked from across Leah. Leah shuffled back so that I could see her easier.

"Yeah, that's my dad with her mom." I pointed to the couple.

"So then we are going to be sisters." Irina pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess so. Welcome to the family." I smiled and held out my hand.

"Thank you." She took my hand and then froze. She brought it to her face and sniffed it, then frowned. "Rosalie has marked you?"

"Huh? No. She just held my hand. She said that Tanya may try to seduce me and that this might keep her at bay."

Irina nodded understandingly. She must have been sad for her sister's loneliness. We all were. "Please, if she does show you that she wants you, let her down easy. Since I found my mate she's been very pessimistic." Leah stroked her hand with her thumb comfortingly. "I know she seems fine, but we've spent hundreds of years together and although she won't talk to us about it, I think she's really hurting inside. She has all this family, but she's lonely. We've all had our hopes wasted when those who we think are our mate disappoint us to a point where we give up hope, except Tanya. She's never given up hope, and I think that's what hurts her the most. She might not be able to keep it up anymore."

"I won't intentionally hurt her." I said absently, thinking of how much she could be hurting because she really looked like the proud and brave coven leader she is, not a heart-broken, love-sick mess.

She and Leah went back to talking about their lives and junk. Jacob and Niqo started cooking marshmallows in the gigantic flame. I sat down and joined them. They were talking, but I was only half listening as I scoped out the place.

Jared had his arm around Kim and they were talking softly to each other on the other side of the fire. Sam and Emily were playing with little Clair on Quil's lap and I found Seth and Embry playing with a soccer ball a way away from the gathering.

The Elders were conversing with each other and some of the parents. This was and annual gathering from what could hear.

I spotted Rosalie, Tanya and Kate talking about something. Tanya was on the log with Kate's head on her lap. Kate was lying down along the log with her knees up and her hands on her stomach, looking up to the stars through the smoke. Tanya was petting her head as they both spoke with Rosalie who was on the ground, leaning back against their log with her knees to her chest, looking into the fire.

She looked so calm. She seemed to find comfort gazing into the flames.

"Looks like Bella found her imprint" Jake chuckled and Niqo snickered when I turned to see that my marshmallow was burning to a crisp as it sunk into the ashes of the fire.

"What do you mean?"

"She's totally your imprint" Niqo stated.

"Huh?" She took my stick from my hands and squished on another marshmallow and gave it back.

"How long have you had a crush on Rosalie?" Jake asked, looking over to where I was watching Rosalie.

"I- what- no-…" I stuttered.

"Oh, please. Yes you do." Niqo said. "It's been like what? A week? And somehow you got her to like you. She doesn't like anyone."

"She likes people." I say defiantly. "I think." I muttered too quietly for her to hear.

"Fine, she likes people, but when does she ever let anyone near her other than her boyfriend?" Niqo said, popping a marshmallow in her mouth.

Jake continued for her, "You must have tried pretty hard to get so close."

"What? No. Exactly Niqo, she has Emmett. We're just friends." I said softly, realising Rosalie could probably hear everything we were saying, but looking over to her, she, Tanya and Kate were speaking intently to Sam and some of the other guys.

"Just because someone's a friend doesn't mean they can't feel something for them." Jake said. I noticed he was looking at Niqo as he said it, but she was looking at me.

"Yeah, brownie. I'm your friend, and I have a little crush on you." Niqo confessed.

Uuuuuuuuhhhh. I looked at Jake and he was just nodding. I tilted my head in confusion. "You- she- huh?"

Jake laughed and explained, "Niqo can like who she wants. She can even want who she likes. I have no business controlling her feelings. That's all her. I like you too, but I like Niqo more so what I feel for you is negligible." Niqo shoved him in the ribs and he clutched it in pain, "What?! It's true."

"It's rude." She chided. "Bella do you see now. You can like your friend. You may not want to do anything about it, or be able to do anything about it, who am I kidding, Emmett's huge, but you get what I mean. So." They both looked me directly in the eyes and leaned closer, "Do you have a crush on Rosalie Hale?"

I dug deep and tried to think of a way out of this. There was nothing. They would never drop this now. Slowly I nodded and their smiles grew about 3 times their normal size as they cheered, "Yes!" and jumped up to produce an oversized Hi-five.

I shielded my face with my hands and brought my knees to my chest. This can't be happening.

"Are you alright Isabella?" I moved my hands away to see Tanya Denali standing above me.

"Bella, we're going to go play ball with Embry and Seth. You can come, or you can speak with this _lovely _lady." Niqo said walking away with a giddy Jacob. Further along I heard her mutter to him, "What do these women drink?" If only she knew.

"Hello Tanya." I stood up and dusted the sand off my butt. I may have been mistaken, but I'm pretty sure she was watching. I sat down on an empty log and she followed me. "You didn't hear any of that did you?" I was still blushing crimson. I wondered if it was bothering her. I shuffled away the slightest bit to make her more comfortable, but she closed the gap.

"No, I was in the middle of something." She pointed to the small crowd around Rosalie. Some of the wolves and Elders were in deep discussion. I almost relaxed until she added, "But you seem flustered, so maybe you would like to tell me."

I shook my head, definitely not. "Should I know what's happening over there?" I pointed to the crowd.

"Would you like to know? It's not all that important to some."

"No. I can't be bothered right now."

"You're stressed." She placed her hand on my forearm as a means of comfort. Involuntarily, I relaxed. I don't know what it is about vampire's skin that is so calming to me.

"My life is just really weird. Not bad or good, just weird." I sighed.

"Do you want to tell me about it? I don't mind listening if it would help." Tanya offered generously.

I didn't want to, but suddenly it all just came spilling out. "We'll start small and go big?" She nodded. "Okay, my parents are divorced, that's not too bad. It was a long time ago, I'm over that. Now my dad is dating my friend's mother. I actually think that's pretty cool. My friend and my best friend just recently admitted to both having a small crush on me, but are not going to do anything about it because she is his imprint. Then there is the fact that imprints and wolves exist. So do vampires, both of which are pretty prevalent in my life. I can't play the first basketball game of the season because my vampire ex-boyfriend frickin' fractured my arm! and on top of all that, I'm falling for my female friend who's' boyfriend is an amazingly caring tank!" Luckily no one was on our log because I hadn't tried to keep my voice down.

Tanya was looking at me with iris' that had seemed to just grow darker with every word I'd spoken since I mentioned vampires. I tried to stop when I noticed, but it was all just weighing on me and I just let it go.

"Edward did that to you?" She growled out, pointing to my sling.

I ran my hand through my hair trying to calm down. "Oh yeah, and he's promised to come back to kidnap and brainwash me or something, on Wednesday."

"Why are you so casual about that?"

"Rosalie said she would protect me" was all that came to mind.

"We will protect you too Bella." Tanya promised.

"I thought you wanted me to become a vampire, or kill me." Yep, my life is weird.

"Bella, do you want to be a vampire?" She asked. Her eyes were pretty dark, to the point where she may lose some of her control. I moved away from her. Somewhere during my emotional release she had pressed her leg up against mine.

"Someday." I remembered telling Rosalie that I would pretend, but it was the truth.

"Then we will protect you from Edward." She said.

"Thankyou. That means a lot, we just met, but I guess we're family. In a very non-related long distance kind of way. Through the Cullens, or more so through Leah and Irina." I was rambling. "Can we talk about something else now?" I asked. I hadn't even spoken much about this with Rosalie; I had only just met Tanya.

She smiled and moved closer to me. I resisted the urge to move away. "We were going from small to big, correct?"

"mhmm"

"Your priorities are quite unusual. The last event on your list was that you were falling for your female friend whose boyfriend was, what was it? Oh yes, 'an amazingly caring tank'."

I audibly gulped. She knew.

"Rosalie is a very beautiful woman." Shit.

"Please don't tell her." I begged.

"You don't think she feels the same way or, don't you think it would last?" Tanya placed her hand on my hand that was resting on my lap. It was innocent enough so I let it slide.

"It wouldn't matter. I have known her for just over a year. I am obviously not her mate. We are not meant to be, so no. It won't last."

"You know, over the years my sisters and I have come across a few that we thought to be our mate. Rosalie and Emmett are not…"

"Pease Tanya." I stopped her. "Please don't give me hope. I have only just realised I felt this way about her. It's not like I love her or anything. They're just feelings."

Tanya looked at me like she wanted to say something, but I shook my head and looked away. After a moment she let out a sigh, "When? When did you realise?" She asked.

"We were at school and we overheard the friend I mentioned before, telling Emmett that she had feelings for me. It was the first time I ever thought about being with a girl. I don't feel that way about Niqo, but then I got thinking about who I could have feelings for. I hadn't thought about it before because I was too young to have any interest in these things and then I was with Edward so I didn't need to. I went through pretty much all the men and women I know, but they never appealed to me enough in that way." I said.

"How did you not think of Rosalie first?" Tanya asked, raising her eyebrow. That was understandable. Rosalie is very desirable in many aspects.

"I did. Actually, it kept coming back to her, but she's just so beautiful and… I don't know, perfect, I just thought everyone felt that way about her. When I finally resorted to thinking about her, it became clear that there was more to her looks and challenge that made me feel the way I do about her." I said.

"Like what?" Tanya sounded much invested in what I had to say.

I sighed. "Like the fact that she treats me as an equal even when it is blatantly obvious that we are anything but equal," I paused, "There's also the way she's secretly a bit of a geek and knows anything I can quote and that every time I make her smile or laugh, I feel like… like I've discovered something amazing." Ugh, I'm way over my head.

Tanya looked down at her hand that was resting on the back of mine and we sat in silence for a long moment, in the presence of the chatter and music blaring across the sand and the crackle and snaps of the fire.

"I want that." She whispered.

My heart clenched for her.

"I want to feel what you feel for her."

I didn't know what to say. I couldn't tell her that she would find her mate someday, because I barely knew anything about vampire mating. Maybe she would die before it happened. I couldn't tell her it would be alright and that it would all work out, because it might not and if it did it might not be for a very long time.

"Rosalie told me something earlier. I'm not sure if she told you, but she told me about how great you are, and that when you find your mate, he or she couldn't be worthy, no matter what. I think she's right."

I flipped my hand so I could hold her hand. She intertwined our fingers and rested her forehead on my shoulder.

"Can you thank Rosalie for me?" She whispered.

"You're welcome" became the magical voice behind us.

"How much of that did you hear?" I asked, frozen. Tanya lifted her head off my shoulder and smiled at Rosalie.

"What don't you want me to know?" Rosalie asked with a raised eyebrow.

Tanya and I shared a look. Rosalie didn't know.

"That Bella thinks you're a geek because you know all her weird references" was Tanya's completely innocent sounding reply.

Rosalie glared at me, but I couldn't feel the heat it traditionally held, although it looked exactly the same.

"Bella, I need you to come meet someone." She turned around and I followed her to a small crowd of people that I hadn't noticed were collected further up the beach, away from the water. It must have been how Tanya and I got that whole log to ourselves. Everyone was here.

Rosalie turned to me, "Bella I need to tell you, the wolves sometimes communicate in Morse code when some of them aren't shifted or with their imprints. They can't use sign language without hands and can't speak well when they're completely deaf." She turned back and kept walking.

I nodded as we reached the small crowd of people.

The crowd parted for Rosalie to lead me into the centre.

"Everybody go back to the fire. You're going to trample the old man." Quil called out to the people, and sure enough, when I glanced around Rosalie, a very, very old man sat in a wheel chair covered in blankets and wearing a large black hat. He reminded me of a much older Billy Black.

It was Old Quil. I had only ever heard of him or caught glimpses of him during my time on the reservation, which wasn't much.

Quil stood behind him, holding the chair in place as the crowd mostly dispersed.

Everyone went quiet.

"Quil." Rosalie smiled and leaned down in front of his chair.

Old Quil reached out a shaky hand and stroked Rosalie's shimmering hair and rested on her shoulder.

He waved me over and I kneeled down on the sand next to Rosalie. He tapped on a simple metal contraption on the armrest of his wheel chair, "_Charlie's daughter?"_ in Morse code. Morse code took a long time to get out, but if I was this old, speaking would take longer.

Rosalie started translating "He asks if – "

I reach out and tap on his arm, "_Yes, I am. Bella_"

I don't see Rosalie's reaction to my hidden knowledge because Quil taps on. "_Are you safe with vampires?_"

I nod. He must have been told about me, the vampire/shifter human friend.

He reaches out to the both of us and weakly tries to push us together. I look to Rosalie for guidance, but she just shrugs. Old Quil taps out another message on our shoulders. "_Show your control_."

Rosalie nods and somehow I find myself in her arms as she embraces me, taking a deep, audible breath near my neck, and then it's over. She pulls back and takes Old Quil's hand off her shoulder to hold in her own.

I am still stunned by what just happened and sit slightly gaping at Rosalie. I snap out of it when Quil taps my shoulder hidden by my hair, "_She has that effect"_ I see Quil's deeply aged face curl up into a very toothless smile.

Rosalie and Old Quil start talking and, so very slowly I stand and leave the old friends to talk.

Indeed she does have that effect, on everyone. I am just like everyone else. I am not special to Rosalie other than the fact that I know about what she and her family is. What I know is all that makes me different, and I only have this knowledge purely due to coincidence. I didn't choose a wolf as my best friend when I was 3 years old. I didn't make my blood call to her vampire brother as strongly as it did. I'm just another kid with a teenage crush on her.

I had walked a fair distance from the party and only a few love birds were walking this far down the beach. I was so engulfed in my self-pitying thoughts I hadn't noticed Tanya come up behind me.

"Are you thinking of her?"

I shake my head.

"What are you thinking about then?"

"I'm trying to let her go."

"How?"

"Self-depreciation." I sigh.

"And how's that going for you?" she asks, an amused smile creeping onto her face. How can she find humour in my pain? Oh, right. She's in more pain, but she wants to help me. I want to help her too. I guess we have some sort of common ground now.

"Tanya, I am not special because of who I am. I am not any different to anyone else who longs for Rosalie Hale to feel something for them. I am no different to any of the students at Forks, or anyone that has ever seen Rosalie for that matter." I say hopelessly.

"I think you're more special than you think, Bella" Tanya said with a smile. "Have you decided what you are going to do when your self-depreciation approach inevitably fails?"

I gasped in mock offence, but couldn't cover the smile. "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. If it's all I can do, I will use that time to be her friend as long as she is okay with that."

Tanya smiled and shook her head, "Did you just quote Gandalf?" I nodded sheepishly. She chuckled, "You really are a geek Bella."

I beamed. "Thank you."

"Come on. We should get back to the fire." Tanya reached around my shoulders and together we re-joined the party.

Tanya seemed to favour a lot of physical contact, but she hasn't flirted with me since I confessed to her my feelings for Rosalie so it wasn't causing me any distress. I didn't mind the physical contact actually. Tanya Denali really did seem like a kind and wonderful woman as Rosalie said, and it seemed we were becoming friends.

* * *

**So I kind of rushed some of this. I had so much school stuff to do. I also got a few ideas I wanted to experiment with. I can sort of go anywhere with this now. I'm not sure I'm all too happy with this chapter, but I'm working on how their future relationship is gonna work. How independent will Bella be? What's their achilles heel? I don't know if you want me to write some sex scenes or just hint at it. I'm not even sure if I'm any good at that. But they're so cute together. ****If you want me to write better, give me some inspiration because right now I'm running low.**

**Okay now you're done reading this mediocre chapter, get back to your life. Do some homework from that pile that keeps threatening to tumble and crush you and I will do the same. Oh and I idiotically volunteered to play a game of quidditch in front of the school population. If I don't update in the next three weeks, I'm probably dead or in the infirmary drinking Madam Pomfrey's Skele-gro. Let's hope for the latter.**


	18. Chapter 18

Bella fell asleep on Jake's lap later in the night and woke up when he and Niqo were drawing on her face.

"Aggh!" she pushed herself off and shoved them away as they laughed their pathetic arses off.

"Bella, do you want to go home now?" Rosalie walked around the fire and immediately broke into a huge grin. "Stupify" She pointed at Bella and they all joined in on her very rare, but welcomed laughter.

"Ugh, what did they draw?" Bella groaned, but couldn't help the smile that betrayed her when she heard Rosalie's laughter even if it was at her expense.

"I don't have a mirror, but you can use my phone." Rosalie reached around and produced her phone and passed it to a drowsy Bella who opened up the camera.

"Guuuuuuuys." She moaned. Bella had been gifted with a wobbly set of round glasses and a lightning bolt on her forehead. Under her bottom lip was two very poorly drawn fangs.

"Come on Bella, I'll take you home." Rosalie laughed as she guided Bella through the goodbyes to the Quillettes and her father. Bella asked if Rosalie had said goodbye to Old Quil. She had. After Bella said her goodbye's to Sue and her father, she made her way to the car, but Rosalie was stopped by a hand on her arm.

"Chief?"

Charlie released her and coughed a little awkwardly. It was obvious Rosalie was intimidating him a bit too much so she tried to smile reassuringly. "Uh, You're taking Bella home?"

"Yeah. I hope that's okay. It's just that she fell asleep and since I brought her here I thought I should be the one to take her home." **(Whoa, anyone feel that harry potter Déjà vu? Hagrid: "I brought you here 16 years ago when you were no bigger than a bowtruckle. It seems only right that I should be the one to take you away now." Yeesh, I'm such a nerd)**

"Yes that's fine, it's just that Bella tends to get a little… unpredictable, when she's tired enough. I thought I should warn you."

Rosalie frowned.

"Okay, let's just say she… she kind of loses a large part of her mental filter when she tries too hard to stay awake" Charlie said slowly. "And she usually doesn't remember what she says, or does."

"Oh… well, she can sleep in my car, but thanks for warning me chief Swan."

"I know you will take care of her. Call me Charlie." He said picking up his drink.

Rosalie looked at him oddly. She was much, much older than him, but she just felt uncomfortable at calling her friend's dad and the chief of police by his first name. Was Bella a friend now? Charlie turned back to her, noticing she wasn't leaving and then picked up on her discomfort, much like Bella tended to do all too often, and he chuckled, "Okay, you can call me Chief then , if that feels better, just no Chief Swan when I'm off duty."

She smiled her thanks and waved to both him and Sue as she followed after Bella.

Bella was slumped in the passenger's side, leaning her head against the window.

"Did you meet Sue Clearwater? You said your dad was dating her right?" Rosalie got in and started up the engine.

"Mhm, yeah. They, uh, she was really nice. I think we will all get along really well." Bella said warily.

"When you say 'all', you mean you, Seth, Leah, Sue and your dad?" Rosalie asked as she started down the road.

"Yeah." Bella took a deep breath. "You're really smart Rosalie." Bella said sitting up quickly. Rosalie would have thought she was being sarcastic, but the look on Bella's face was as if she was really thinking hard about it. Bella looked at Rosalie in wonder and Rosalie lifted an eyebrow in question, but Bella's expression made her uncomfortable so she looked back to the road. Bella reached out for her face, but Rosalie gently pushed her hand back down, not that Bella noticed. "You're really smart" she repeated.

Rosalie was a little taken back at what Bella said.

"And you're really nice and kind. Why can't everyone be like you?" Bella asked. She cocked her head to the side like she was really wondering why. Rosalie scooted a bit further across her seat, away from the hallucinating teenager.

No one had ever called her smart, or nice or kind. Not even Emmett. He was more of a fun spirit, and once in a while when he did get all mushy, he'd only ever tell her how she wasn't evil, or a monster, or a bitch, he would tell her how much he loves her, or how much she means to the family, but in every case he had said those things to make her feel better, never just as a general compliment. The trait of being smart or intelligent in her human years wasn't all that valued in women, and now, in a vampire family, it was just expected of her to be knowledgeable over the years so she didn't count praise from her teachers.

"You're really pretty too." Bella tried to reach for her face, but for the second time was stopped by Rosalie. "When I look at you, it's like everything feels lighter and happier." Bella smiled and then looked up through the skylight to continue. "Your voice is like music-filled… bubbles. Each bubble that pops is like a lyrical explosion of a grammatical awesomeness coming from your lips! Now every time I pop a bubble I'll say 'Rosalie'." Bella started popping imaginary bubbles every time squeaking, "Rosalie, Rosalie, Rosalie…"

"Bella, are you okay?" Rosalie asked hesitantly. She'd say Bella was intoxicated, but there was no alcohol on the beach or her breath. Charlie was actually being serious about Bella's… condition.

"No Rosalie, are _you_ okay?" Bella asked seriously.

"Uh, I'm fine." She said a little cautiously. She didn't know how unpredictable Bella could get.

"Of course you are. You're perfect." Bella huffed, and then flopped back against the window again watching the road fly past, willing her eyes to keep watching.

"Bella, go to sleep."

And she did. Thank the lord.

Rosalie pulled up to the Chief of Police's house, got out and sped to the other side to get Bella. She lifted her up in her arms and strode over to the front door. She reached in Bella's front pocket to get the keys and entered the house to drop Bella off in her room.

The light hit her closed eyes and the smell of pancakes wafted up from the kitchen, giving Bella a warm feeling in her chest. Eventually her stomach's incessant complaints got her up and moving down the stairs in nothing but her pyjama pants and a T shirt.

With lidded eyes she sat down at the kitchen and picked up the knife and fork that had been laid out for her, but what she saw in front of her gave her pause.

There on her plate was what looked to be a very interesting imitation of 'sting' in pancake form. She looked up and there she was. Rosalie was standing at the stove piling pancakes onto a plate. Tanya was looking over Rosalie's shoulder to see the pan.

"Hey Potter, I hope you don't mind, I scheduled a fishing day with Billy last night so I might be gone most of the day." Charlie walked into the kitchen and placed his gear next to her on the table as he went through his inventory. "Your friends came down this morning and insisted they make breakfast." He shoved a large piece of pancake in his mouth and kept talking, "If it's okay with you I'm going to leave you with them today. You're what, 17? You can handle yourself right?"

Bella nodded then cocked her head, "Potter?"

Tanya laughed, "Look in the mirror."

"Oh." She groaned. Bella still had the markings on her face. She lifted herself from the table and went to the bathroom to wash it off. When she returned Charlie gave her an awkward hug as he tried to accommodate for all the fishing gear in his hands. When he pulled back he stared meaningfully into her eyes. "You should call your mother today. She got home about a week ago. We shouldn't have waited so long to tell her about what happened." He said seriously. Bella nodded and moved her arm uncomfortably in her sling. According to her doctor, she was healing very well and she would eventually be able to take up basketball again. She bid her father farewell and turned back to her pancakes and vampires. Tanya took a seat next to Bella while she ate and Rosalie cleaned up.

"Good morning Bella."

"Hey Tanya."

Tanya leaned in close while Bella was still chewing. Bella frowned at her. Tanya smirked and her eyes darted to Rosalie who was quietly working at the sink. Bella looked but then turned back to Tanya who was still very much in her personal space. Tanya quirked her eyebrows, and with her smirk caused Bella to blush.

Once her goal was accomplished Tanya sat back and sighed happily, "did you want to do something today?"

"I'm actually busy today. Bella, can I leave you with Tanya and Alice? They wanted to visit and I just wanted to make pancakes." Rosalie said, taking Bella's empty dish and washing it in the sink.

"Alice is here?" Bella immediately brightened and stood up.

"She's in your closet. She probably got caught up trying to plant the clothes she bought you. She thought you would think they were yours and not complain so much about the money." Tanya finished, laughing because Bella didn't stay to listen to her as she was already up the stairs and running.

"Alice!" Alice stepped out of Bella's closet with a smile on her face. Bella ran up to her and jumped into her arms. It was actually a pretty weird sight because Alice was just so small and her stature really didn't reflect her strength when she lifted Bella up in the air.

"Bella, how are you?" She asked, and then her smile faded a little. "Are you doing okay?"

Bella nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just glad you're back. I missed you." Alice hugged her again, but this time Bella was a bit more reluctant. Her arm was starting to hurt again. Alice didn't notice though, and Bella didn't say anything about it. She was just glad to have her friend back.

"Are we doing anything today?" Bella asked excitedly.

Alice's eyes clouded over with a quick vision and she started walking out the door with Bella. "Tanya has a boring plan, but it has merit." Alice sighed.

"So, what did you want to do Tanya?" Bella asked when they stepped off the stairs.

"Let's go to the library." Bella frowned. "You're in your last year of high school. We need to think about what you want to do for your future, unless you already know?"

Bella shook her head. "I haven't really thought about it. I've only just got my life on track. I don't even know what colleges I want to apply to."

"Then we have some work to do. Get dressed."

Alice went up with Bella to her room and quickly got Bella to wear some things she had just bought her, a new pair of jeans that was just waiting to be artfully torn to shreds. Alice let Bella wear a plain grey T shirt because she handed her a complimenting, fitting Vans hoodie. It was a different feeling for Bella because she only had very baggy hoodies. When she came down Rosalie was gone and Tanya grabbed her coat and stood waiting at the door.

Alice and Tanya spent the day going through career path after career path with Bella. By late afternoon they had narrowed it down to some kind of law enforcement or defence job, like her father, or a job to do with children's welfare kind of like her mother who was a kindergarten teacher.

When Bella returned home, it was because she had received a phone call from her father reminding her that Renee and Phil had been back for a week now and that it was about time Bella told them about the events pertaining to Edward in the last few weeks. He convinced her to call them immediately, because he couldn't stand the idea of Renee not knowing about the abuse their daughter had taken, and that he was this close to calling them himself and going against Bella's wishes if they held out any longer.

Phil answered the phone and Bella briefly spoke to him about their small vacation until he passed the phone along to Renee.

**"Bella! Honey, I've missed my little girl so much. What happened? You dropped off the grid. No Emails, no phone calls, not texts?"**

"I know, I Know mom. I'm sorry. I wanted you guys to enjoy your time away in peace."

**"Forget peace. I have the most amazing news."**

"Yeah, I have news for you too." Bella nervously paced the living room.

**"You first."**

Like a Band-Aid, "I broke up with Edward."

**"Oh, why?"** Renee didn't actually sound surprised, maybe a little proud? **"What was the motivation?"**

"Um , I- he- we" She took a breath. "It was time for us to part ways." Why couldn't she keep with the Band-Aid method?

**"Oh. That's… great."**

"What's wrong?" Bella stopped her pacing.

**"I just… I just thought you were going to tell me you broke up because you found someone else, and maybe that's why you forgot about your poor old mother."**

Bella chuckled, but something changed in her voice.

**"You did! Who is it? What's their name? Is it Jacob? I always liked that boy, from when he was so young he always - "**

"No mom, it's not Jacob. It's…" Was she really going to say it? "It's… Edward's sister." The gasp on the other side of the phone set Bella on edge. Then her mother burst in to laughter. "Yeah… it's… it's hilarious. Whatever." Bella scratched the back of her neck awkwardly and sat down on the couch.

**"Oh my god"** The laughter immediately ceased. **"You're serious?"**

"Well I wasn't joking" Bella said dryly.

**"You broke up with your boyfriend because you have a thing for his sister?"**

"No. I broke up with him because he's an incredibly terrible boyfriend, and now I have a thing for his sister. What, no. It's not a thing, it's just-"

**"It's a thing Bella. Oh this is priceless."**

"Whatever, you can't tell anyone. What was your amazing news?"

Renee had to catch her breath before she could answer, "**Right. Well Bella, I know I'm pretty old to be a mother, but-"**

"What are you talking about? You just came out of school when you had me."

**"Yes, but that's not what I meant. Bella, how do you feel about maybe being a… being a sister?"**

… Bella brought the phone to her eyes to check if something was wrong with it. She had heard that right hadn't she?

**"Bella?"**

"You're pregnant?!" She brought the phone back to her ear.

**"For four weeks now. We had no idea." Renee's excited voice echoed wherever she was.**

"Fuck."

**"Bella, language."** She sternly chided her daughter. It's not like Renee put that much effort into censoring herself.

"Sorry mom, but you're going to be a mom again. I'm going to have a brother or a sister!" Her voice was loud, but it wasn't clear whether she was excited or just shocked.

**"I know, Phil is excited too. This was completely unplanned. Then again, when do I ever plan things?"**

"Mom"

**"I'm going to have another Bella running around!"**

"Mom"

**"Only 8 more months and-"**

"Mother!" Renee stopped. "Things are going to be different aren't they? They have to be if you're going to be a mother again."

The phone was silent for a moment. **"Yes Bella, things are going to be different this time around. I'm older now, much older. I'm ready to be a mother.** Renee paused for a moment, gathering her words,** "You know how sorry I am that I wasn't able to handle it when it was your time and-"**

"And you know I've forgiven you."

**"Yes, and because you have forgiven me I know I can't have been the worst mother. Bella, we're ready for this baby."**

"You better be. This isn't just a hobby or a fad, mom. This is a child, and my brother or sister. You need to listen to people, to be there for the kid. Grandma's not around anymore to pick up the slack."

**"I will be. We will be." Renee said softly.**

"I swear Renee. You cannot fu- stuff this up. If you do, I'm not above taking over-"

**"I'm not leaving, Bella"** Renee said resolutely. She never left Bella, but she was never really there either. Not until much, much later, but by that time Bella didn't need her mother like she used to.

Bella took a deep breath to calm her emotions. "Okay Mom."

There was a long awkward silence which Renee took it upon herself to break, **"So… Edward's sister?"**

"Uh, yeah dad? Okay, I'm coming. Mom? Dad's calling me. I should go out there. Call you later about baby names."

**"Bella, he's not callin-"**

* * *

It was coming up on Easter holidays, but Bella was working hard to excel in her last year of high school. She still didn't know exactly what she wanted to do, but she knew that whatever it was, she needed to do well. She had been studying with Tanya a lot. Being as old as she was, brought its advantages, Tanya was very knowledgeable about history and politics, scientific discoveries and mathematical theorems. One thing she had a passion for was philosophy and literature. Not the literature Bella had thrived on, but the much older writings of people like H.G. Wells and Jonathan Swift. It seemed to Bella, that Tanya was determined to get her to read some of the like, but starting a new book was the hardest part of reading for Bella, so she just pretended she hadn't noticed the books Tanya had "accidentally" left around her house and truck when Tanya would help her study, or pick her up from school.

Apparently they were staying in La Push until they hear significant word from Edward or Carlisle. Alice had told the family that Carlisle and Edward weren't going to be returning anytime soon. Edward knew he needed to stay away for a while. He understood he had hurt Bella and that they both needed to calm down. It was going to be hard, but Carlisle was there to help him. It was certain he would come back, but Alice couldn't see the decision to yet.

The Denali's hadn't told the other Cullens of their presence because they didn't want any prejudiced interference in their relationship with the wolves just yet. Leah and Irina were newly mated, and Tanya informed Bella how that can sometimes result in very volatile situations. Fortunately, the wolves' presence kept Alice from seeing that all the sisters were being cooped ip in La Push. she only knew that Tanya dropped by.

Sometimes Tanya and Bella would go to her house and talk, or they would go hang around La Push. After every visit, Bella would leave a window or two open to rid the house of Tanya's sweet scent so as not to tip anyone off if Esme, emmett or jasper would visit.

They had talked about Alice's issue about not being able to see Bella's future. Tanya, Irina, and Kate had been very impressed when Rosalie told them of a theory that was proposed.

Esme, who was now the temporary coven leader, proposed that maybe Bella had the gift of being a shield and that now that Bella had changed to be more accepting of who she was, her gift had expanded to the point where Alice could no longer see her future, but was still not strong enough that Jasper couldn't feel her emotions. That fact was found when Jasper confronted Bella about how she was dealing with the events around Edward before they left.

* * *

_Jasper was waiting by Bella's truck when she came out of school one day. "Howdy, cowboy" Bella tilted her head and offered the southerner a genuine smile._

_Jasper pulled himself off the truck and chuckled, "That's not-" he shook his head in amusement, "Just don't do that ever again, please."_

_"I give the orders, Major" Bella said in an authoritive voice. Jasper had told Bella of his past, being a soldier in the confederate army a long time ago when he was trying to make Bella feel more comfortable around him, and by exposing himself to a closer acquaintance with Bella, he did. Bella knew that he wouldn't have risked the proximity if he didn't trust himself to abstain._

_"I apologise, but I do have a request of the lieutenant colonel" Jasper held the driver's side open for Bella who threw her bag in the back and then hopped in with a smirk._

_"That's just Lieutenant to you, Major Whitlock" Bella said rather flirtatiously, but she knew Jasper could feel the amusement rolling off her. "Get in. I'm guessing you want to talk to me at home? Otherwise you wouldn't be waiting."_

_"Yes ma'am"_

_Bella found out, with much help from Jasper, that she was actually quite conflicted with how she felt about Edward. He was her first love, and he had failed her miserably. She didn't feel like the same person. They weren't sure if that was because she had changed, or events had given her a different perspective on life. Maybe the stress of completing her last year was grating on her a little too much. Jasper offered to help her study for history. Tanya was helping her, but she wasn't as well versed in the history of the southern wars, vampire or human, for she hadn't been a major participant._

_Tanya was also getting quite close to Bella and they ha__ve actually become very good friends._

* * *

_Bella:_

_"One second." I called to the guest at the door. I closed my sketch book and pulled my paintbrush away from the canvas that I had propped on the easel. I made my way down stairs and opened the door to none other than Tanya Denali standing on my porch. "Hi Tanya." I absently wiped the smear of white paint I got on the door handle. Oops._

_"Hello Bella, can I come in?" She asked._

_"Sure." She stepped through as I held the door open for her. "Is there something you needed? Were we supposed to be studying today?" It was a Sunday so we weren't meant to have our study sessions, as per our agreement. Sunday was my catch-up time. I got to catch up on sleep, TV, Facebook, reading, and sometimes, due homework._

_She shook her head, playing with her, now straight, hair. "Just thought I'd visit. Can we go to your room?"_

_"Uh, yeah. It's kind of a mess today, I was painting a bit." I led her into my room and she took a look around._

_"You are quite the artist aren't you?" She said absently._

_I frowned. "Tanya, is something bothering you?" I sat down on my bed and she joined me._

_"I had to get out of there." She shook her head._

_"Out of La Push?"_

_She nodded. "Everyone had their… imprints. Kate left me, to go hunting. It was just overwhelming I suppose." She admitted. "Everyone acts out of character for my sake. I don't like to cause them the inconvenience"_

_"I'm sorry Tanya." I caressed her arm in an attempt to comfort her. She looked into my eyes and something occurred to her._

_"How are you going with Rosalie?" She asked. "You haven't spoken about her much."_

_I sighed and leaned back against my pillows. "Okay I guess. I mean we had a pretty big fight on Tuesday, but other than that, not much has happened. Nothing's changed. I still care about her too much. Maybe even more than I did."_

_"You fought?" She moved next to me._

_I nodded. "She was tutoring me in maths and I just couldn't get it. Eventually she just stormed out."_

_"Sorry."_

_"No, we're fine. The next day we just acted like none of it happened. She got my friend Niqo to tutor me instead. I understand her better." I said. After a moment I scoffed, "This is so sad. We are both awesome single women wallowing in our disjointed love lives together. You'd think a perfect guy with washboard abs would just snatch up each of our pathetic forms and everything would be just fine and dandy, like every teenage romance novel."_

_Tanya chuckled against my side. "You know. Everyone's stepping on eggshells around me except you. It's refreshing. It's not as enjoyable as you might think, to have everyone looking at you like you might combust if they kiss or hug, or say things to each other. I know I have no mate. It's not like anything they can say will make that fact clearer. It's been this way for as long as I've known"_

_I turned to look into her pained eyes and held her hand to reinforce what I was about to say. "Don't doubt yourself, Tanya. You're ancient and you can function independently. That's awesome. You have so many people who love and care for you. You're not alone. You are loved."_

_She was quiet for a while, letting what I said fall through. Then she leaned in and I was shocked at first. I froze, but I wouldn't push her away. I couldn't bring myself to refuse her. That would just be cruel._

_In her golden eyes I didn't see the darkened lust that I could recognise in Edward's eyes when we so rarely shared one of our painfully short but passionate kisses. Instead, I saw insecurity. She needed comfort and I was willing to give it to her. So I didn't lean back, but I didn't lean in. When her cold lips tentatively pressed against mine, I brought my hand up to her neck and kissed her back, reassuringly and not with lustful thoughts or requests for more._

_We kissed softly for a long moment and when she pulled back, she revealed to me the warmest eyes. We didn't say anything for a moment, but she pulled me to her, so that I was comfortable, and we just held each other there on my bed, a feeling of support and mutual reassurance engulfing us. She started retelling me some of her favourite novels and stories about things she'd done or come upon in her lifetime._

* * *

**Whoa, packed chapter. Let's recap:**

**-Renee is pregos**

**- Alice and Jasper are back and helping Bella, sort of, well Jasper is. Alice is just being a friend.**

**- Edward and Carlisle are not coming back for a while. In the meantime, Esme is coven leader (Go Esme)**

**- The Cullen's don't know their 'cousins' are there yet because newly mated couples are sensitive. (I know that's not a great reason, but I wanted it to be this way)**

**- Yes, Bella and Tanya totally kissed. It was just a spur of the moment when I was writing. Tanya/Bella! (Kidding, not going to happen in this fic... or is it? Maybe a little, I'm pretty flexible, but this will still be a Bella/Rosalie) Everyone's so nice to Bella. I don't know about you, but I think we need some more antagonists in the plot.**

**I'm not going to be updating in the next 4 or 5 weeks if anyone is still reading this. I have exams and this addiction to fanfiction is not healthy, as unfortunate as that is. anyone have some tips on how to break the addiction?**

**Bacon pancakes reference a while ago was Adventure Time. The awesomest creepiest "cartoon" ever. Go Bubbline!**

**I haven't read any HG Wells yet, but I plan to do so after exams. I know I will like it because I love Warehouse 13, and I adore HG (Yes, another pairing: Myka B./ Helena G. W.) I might write one of them at a later date. Maybe. What's their ship name? : Hyka? Welling? Lol, that's hilarious… Welling… Yeah, no. they shouldn't have a ship name.**

**By the way, that weird sleepy thing happens to me all the time. I say the weirdest things when I'm tired. I only know when my sister shows me the videos in the morning, so I might write some questionable things when I'm tired. That's like all the time.**

**rose and Bella will be together in like two chapters**

**See you in a few weeks.**


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